Oh the People we'll Meet
by FirstFandomFangirl
Summary: A separate place for me to post realm-hopping OtTwcD stories, which take place after Oh the Places we'll Go. Most recent - Miraculous Ladybug. Rated T for safety.
1. Realm Hopping is an Extreme Sport

**Okay so this is the start of the sequels, im just putting them here for simplicity. they're mainly gonna be one or two chapters long, with a couple longer ones. enjoy!**

* * *

"We really should not be doing this."

"Those are the words of a coward." Was Lydia's cheerful response. "Now hush and help me pick a movie."

"I'm serious. Even if this does work, what if you're placed in danger?"

"That's why you're coming along!" Lydia pulled out Robin Hood. "Hmm."

"Pick one where it will be obvious if we're sent there, regardless of time period." Karen signed.

"Ah, yeah." Lydia pulled out a veggietales, squinted at it, then put it back. "Know what?" She grabbed a video game case from the next stack. "We're going to Sonic the Hedgehog."

"What?" Morro snatched the case out of her hand. "What in the-"

"Oh hush. It's just a preliminary test, we're not gonna hang out in a world full of anthropomorphic animals for very long. At least, not this visit." She mumbled. "Anyway, I'll be right back." Before Morro could protest, she'd jumped to her feet and ran upstairs.

"Hey mom!" She yelled as she grabbed a Sonic the Hedgehog comic book from her bookshelf. "I'm going to another dimension! I'll be back in like, 30 minutes max!"

"Okay?" Having gotten her permission, Lydia snatched the Realm Crystal from its' home in her closet and hurried back down into the basement.

"Alright!" She slid to a stop and took a deep breath. "Okay, uh, lemme try and find a safe place to teleport to." Catching her breath, she paged through the book, stopping on a page with a field bordered by forest. "Here we go."

"You are way too excited about this." Morro informed her.

"Shh." Holding the book in one hand, she lifted up the Realm Crystal in the other. "Y'all ready?" Karen gave her a thumbs-up, and Morro sighed.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Cool." Lydia glanced at the panel once more, the created a portal, glancing back to make sure Morro and Karen were paying attention before jumping through.

She tumbled out onto soft grass.

"Good sign." She noted as Karen faceplanted next to her.

"It's grass, Lydia. We could be anywhere." Morro floated down beside her.

"Well then, let's go check it out!" Lydia hopped to her feet, helping Karen up as the portal vanished behind them.

"Again, you're way too excited about this." Regardless, Morro floated along behind her as she and Karen marched towards the far end of the field.

They were on Angel Island.

"Okay, I guess this is real." Morro commented as they stared over the edge at the mainland far below them. Lydia let out a whoop.

"This is awesome! Who knows how many other fandoms are real? I'm gonna go EVERYWHERE!"

"Yeah, we don't know everything's real." Morro leaned over the edge to look.

"Guess we'll have to test each one!" Lydia chirped. "Back to Earth!"

RealmHoppingIsAnExtremeSport

"So, Shadow of the Colossus isn't real." Lydia reported as she stepped out of a portal back into her basement. "Karen, write that down." Karen scribbled something on a clipboard. "Gonna assume that means Ico isn't real too. Ooh, I'm gonna go check Middle Earth." She vanished into a portal again. Morro glanced at Karen.

"She is getting WAY too excited about this." Karen made a face at him, scribbling,

"Let her have fun."

"Mmph." Lydia popped back out.

"Lord of the Rings is real! I'm gonna go check Harry Potter." She stepped into another portal.

"I think you're just jealous of the fact that she's gonna meet all of her other fictional boyfriends now." Karen wrote. Morro blinked.

"Wait, what?" Lydia appeared again.

"Hogwarts is real!"

"Lydia, are you cheating on me?" Morro demanded. Lydia blinked.

"Uh, no?"

"Karen said something about your 'other fictional boyfriends'."

"Former fictional boyfriends, not current!" Lydia plopped down next to him on the couch. "Ugh, realm-hopping is hard on the body."

"Take a break." Morro slung an arm around her shoulders. "Why… are you so excited, exactly? About heading into a bunch of other dimensions? Isn't this one good enough?"

"Well…" she leaned into him. "It's kinda like the fictional-boyfriends thing. Like, there are a LOT of characters I've gotten attached to over the years - most in a Lloyd way, some in a you way. The idea of like, meeting them… it's like… it feels like I'm meeting an old friend." Morro glanced over at the piles of books and movies lying on the floor, organized by whether or not their universe was real.

"Guess you have a lot of friends." He commented after a moment. Lydia's face broke into a genuine smile.

"That's… a really nice way of putting it." Abruptly, she sat upright. "Ooh, I wonder if Kirby's real!" She hopped to her feet and disappeared into a portal again. Morro and Karen exchanged glances, then the latter shrugged, scribbling,

"You did something right. Congratulations."

"...thanks."

* * *

** so yeah. send in fandoms for me to visit!**

**~FFF**


	2. Turnabout Realms - First Trial Part 1

**im actually a bit shocked at how many suggestions I got! I didn't start with any of them, cause I've had this plot in my head for a while, but I will most likely be writing all of them!**

**one general response- one suggestion I got was to visit a fanfiction. Let me know if you have a fic you want me to visit!**

* * *

"Time!" Lydia yelled as she burst through the portal. Karen clicked her stopwatch, then held it up. "Fourteen minutes 27 seconds. Okay, just about 1.5x slower than Harry Potter world." Lydia sat down on the edge of her bed, scribbling her calculations on her clipboard as Morro stepped through the portal and closed it.

"I'm thinking maybe 1930s." He reported as he tucked the Realm Crystal back into the camera case slung over his shoulder. "Quite a bit before the story starts."

"Mmm. That's a pity. Maybe I can go adopt Voldemort, or something." Lydia checked off "Hogwarts", and moved onto the next fandom on the list. "Morro, can you run downstairs and update mom? We're about halfway down the list." Morro nodded, leaving the room, and Lydia started to doodle him on a corner of the paper.

After they'd found out which dimensions were real and which weren't, the next step was to calculate the time passage difference between the universes so she could find out how long she could spend in each one without neglecting her responsibilities on Earth. Their method of doing so was to have Lydia travel to each world (with Morro there to be her bodyguard) and spend 10 minutes there while Karen timed how long they were gone. It worked pretty well so far. Math actually was useful for something.

"Mom says don't forget to work on your homework." Morro reported, coming back through the door. "And to eat something soon. What's next on the list?"

"We've got…" Lydia looked down. "Ace Attorney! Woo!"

"Right. Lawyers." Morro rolled his eyes, but pulled out the Realm Crystal again. "Let's go. Ready, Karen?" The black-haired girl gave him a thumbs up, and he handed the crystal to Lydia, taking her hand as she summoned the portal and stepped through.

They emerged onto a dark street.

"I got it." Lydia clicked on the small flashlight in her hand, then hit a button on her watch to start the 10-minute timer.

"It's very quiet," Morro remarked. "Even for at night. Isn't this a big city?"

"Yeah." Lydia shined her light down the street, stopping when the beam hit what looked like a newspaper. "Lemme go check that for a date."

"Don't go too far." Morro reminded her absently as she traipsed over, flipping it over and looking at the headline.

"Up and Coming Prosecutor Beaten by Young- hey, check it out!" She called over. "It's Phoenix! He's just starting his career!" She exclaimed as Morro ambled over. Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow at the cover, which featured a photo of Phoenix and Edgeworth standing on opposite sides of a courtroom.

"That's exciting." He said flatly.

"It is exciting, so shut your mouth." She glanced down at her watch. "Not much point in exploring, it's dark and no one's around."

"Speaking of which," Morro took the flashlight from her, turning it off. "There's a moon. Just let your eyes adjust." Lydia glanced up, and, sure enough, the moon was almost full in the night sky above her.

"Okay." Sticking her hands in her pockets, she looked up at the stars and sighed. It was a really nice night.

"Have I told you tonight how beautiful you are?" Morro asked offhandedly. Lydia blushed and stuck her tongue out at him.

"No, but even if you had I wouldn't protest." He smirked and kissed her on the cheek. "Now that's PDA."

"It's not public if no one's around." He protested.

"That's not the criteria! The criteria is whether or not we're in a public place!"

"That's dumb. But-"

Morro broke off, immediately right beside her with a hand on her arm as a scream echoed out in the darkness.

Lydia was frozen for a moment, then reached for her flashlight, but Morro lifted it away.

"Don't draw attention to us." He murmured. Shutting her mouth, Lydia obeyed.

A gunshot rang out, then another, and a bullet pinged off the cobblestone at their feet.

"Run, now." Morro hissed, already dragging her away as more gunshots echoed through the square. It was almost impossible to tell where they were coming from, how did Morro know they weren't walking right into danger? Catching her balance, she ran as quietly as she could. She really would prefer not to be a hapless victim in one of Phoenix's murder cases.

She slipped on something, and as Morro caught her she saw a gun glint in the moon as it slid towards the nearby building.

"There' a gun just lying there!" She hissed. "Someone was shooting from over here!"

"Grab it." The gun lifted from the ground and flew into her hands. "If they come back, we don't want to be a target."

"Yeah." Morro pulled her into an alley, pushing her against the wall and shielding her body with his. The two of them stayed there, silent, Lydia pointing the gun at the ground just in case - she didn't know if it was still loaded. One more shot rang out, then nothing.

"Perhaps we should skedaddle." Lydia whispered.

"Give it another minute." Morro murmured. She nodded.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

"And that would be the police, coming to investigate the shooting." Lydia remarked. It sounded like they were still pretty far away yet. "Let's get out of here."

"Right." Morro stepped back, opening the camera case and reaching inside.

"HANDS IN THE AIR!" A voice screamed as a flashlight's beam snapped on in Lydia's face.

Immediately, she dropped the gun, hearing Morro scramble away behind her as she lifted her hands. Stupid town square acoustics.

"We need to get out of here." Morro snarled, grabbing her arm.

"No, you need to get out of here!" She hissed back as she heard guns click from the direction of the lights. He was holding his other arm over his face to hide his appearance. Smart. "If I move we both get shot! Run! They won't hurt me, I promise!" Morro hesitated for a second, then vanished into the shadows of the alley. She heard incoherent shouts, but no gunshots, nor did they chase after Morro. Instead, they ordered her to get to her knees and put her hands behind her head, which she did. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a flash of light as a portal disappeared. Good.

The light finally lowered from her face down to the ground, and she looked up to see Detective Dick Gumshoe standing over her.

"Ah. Hello."

"No sudden movements!" Gumshoe yelled, aiming his gun at her. The policeman beside him carefully pointed it towards the ground.

"I'm not even moving. Why am I being arrested?"

"For the murder of Amanda Hillard." Gumshoe snapped. "Cuff her, pal."

"I didn't kill anyone." Lydia protested idly as her hands were cuffed behind her back. "I demand an attorney."

"Yeah, yeah." The policeman hauled her to her feet, and lead her over to a police car, pushing her into the backseat.

"Do I get a seatbelt?" She asked as her adrenaline rush began to wind down. Neither of them answered. "Do I get a phone call?"

"Once we're back at the station, yes." The policeman told her evenly as he turned the key, and the car stuttered to life. Lydia shifted in her seat, looking out the window at the crime scene she'd stumbled into as the car began to move. Morro would be able to find her fairly easily, she was sure.

Arguably, she mused as they drove back to the police station, being accused of a crime she didn't commit was a bad thing. But she was in Ace Attorney world, she didn't have anything to worry about. At least, as far as the actual murder case. The whole she-didn't-exist thing might throw everything off a bit.

After about a 5-minute drive, they pulled up at the station. She was marched into the building, and they took her name (fake), birth date (fake as well), age, weight, fingerprints, etc. From her fingerprints alone, they'd soon discover she didn't exist.

"Do I get my phone call now?" She asked dully as they took their 20th picture of her. The officer - a different one - took one more photo, then nodded.

"Come with me." He brought her into the next room, directed her to a phone, and began to uncuff her hands. "One call, two minutes."

"Thanks. Can you get me the number for Wright and Co. Law Offices?" She asked, rubbing her wrists. He frowned, then grabbed a newspaper from a nearby table and slapped it down in front of her. "Thanks." She skimmed the front page until she found the number, then dialed it and lifted the phone to her ear. It rang several times, then a female voice chimed,

"Hey, thanks for calling Wright and Co. Law Offices! We can't take your call right now, but leave a message after the beep!" Maya. The recording beeped, and she glanced up at the policeman once more before beginning to speak.

"Hey, um. My name is Lydia, and I need help."

* * *

**lydia, getting accused of murder: heck yeah**

**this might get long**

**~FFF**


	3. Turnabout Realms - First Trial Part 2

**I tried**

**Review replies: **

**Bookkeeper: YESSSS IM DEF GOING TO ML**

**JustAFemaleGeek: yeah they would be**

**Candy: this is def going to get long. this chapter was 14 pages on paper. A typical one is 8-9.**

* * *

Turnabout Realms - First Trial Part 2

Morro appeared out of the portal that had just materialized, swore, and closed the portal behind him.

Karen clicked her stopwatch, looked up at him, looked back, and frowned. She made a sign that he understood - "Where".

"Got arrested." He said bluntly. "Someone started shooting. The police came and thought Lydia did it. She told me to get out." Karen scowled at him, crossing her arms. "Hey, I didn't want to! They were pointing a gun at me, and she told me to get out before they killed me! What was I supposed to do, stay and get shot?" Karen signed rapidly at him, then stood up, trying to snatch the crystal. "Hey! There's not even any point in going back now!" She signed rapidly again. "I don't understand what you're saying!" She poked him in the chest, pointed at his watch, pointed at herself, then at the crystal.

"Time difference?" She nodded. "How do you know it's not slower there?" More angry signing. "Alright, know what? You can stay here and talk to yourself. I"m gonna go tell the parents what happened." With Karen's silent words still echoing through the air behind him, Morro turned and left the room, disappearing up the basement stairs.

TurnaboutRealms

"Alright, so first things first." Lydia clasped her hands together, staring through the plexiglass barrier that separated her room from Phoenix's. "I have no money. Literally none. I can't pay you. There's a possibility I can once I get out, but as of this moment I am totally and completely broke. I'm sorry I didn't tell you over the phone. Still willing to hear me out?" Phoenix and Maya exchanged glances.

"Tell us what happened." Phoenix said at last. His hair was perfectly spiked, she noted as she went over her story again. Didn't even look like gel, it looked natural.

"Okay, so, me and my boyfriend were exploring." She started. "We're tourists here, and he's a hobbyist photographer, so he wanted some pictures without other people around. Anyway, we went to that square or whatever, and he was getting ready to take some pictures when we heard gunshots.

"We ran, and I tripped over a gun and picked it up in case I needed to defend myself. There were a lot of shots, and when they stopped the police showed up, saw me with a gun, and arrested me for murder. I still don't even know who I apparently killed." She folded her hands together, swallowing. She wasn't worried about being convicted of murder, however she did not like talking about this with a guard breathing down her neck.

"I know it sounds, uh, really convenient, but I swear I didn't kill her. I've never killed anyone but myself." She chuckled awkwardly and cleared her throat. "Anyway. Help me out?" Phoenix glanced at Maya, his face thoughtful.

"...let me speak with my associate for a minute." Lydia nodded, and watch as he and Maya retreated to the back of the room and had a quiet, whispered conversation. She only caught a couple words - both of which were "money". Sorry guys.

Finally, they came back, and Phoenix informed her,

"I believe in your innocence, and we have decided to take your case."

"Yay! Thank you!" She clasped her hands together, her face breaking into a smile. "Um, you probably wanna talk to Detective Gumshoe about evidence. He's the leader of the crime evidence or whatever." She paused. "And you probably wanna see what they think my motive for killing this Amanda person is. I mean, I just got here." Phoenix nodded, cracking a small smile.

"Don't worry, Miss Godwin. We'll get you out of here." She gave him a thumbs-up, and he gave her another nod before leaving the room with Maya. Lydia got up from her chair, and a guard escorted her out of the room and back to her cell. If she remembered correctly, Phoenix had to go get evidence now. All she had to do was wait for the trial.

TurnaboutRealms

"Several… sale… items... stocked… agh, I can't read all this." Morro thrust the newspaper at Karen. "Look for anything about Lydia." Karen glared at him, but shook it out and began to read, flipping through the pages fairly quickly. After a moment, she stopped, pointing at a chunk of text. Morro leaned in, slowly making his way through the paragraph - which was accompanied by a mugshot of Lydia.

"'Tourist girl murders up-and-coming businesswoman'. Wonderful." Karen kept reading, then signed Lydia's name and pointed down the street. Morro nodded, then followed as she stepped into the flow of pedestrian traffic, vanishing into the crowd.

TurnaboutRealms

_November 27th, 2016_

Apparently she did exist.

Lydia had been approached by a policeman who had accused her of giving them a fake name, and presented her with a copy of her driver's license. It even had the same picture of her as the one she had - taken in 2017. In a stroke of pure smartness, she had told him that the government hadn't updated her info yet, as she'd just gotten married. So now Morro was her husband. Woo.

And it was trial time.

During the pre-trial prep, she learned a bit about the murder victim. Apparently she had been a 25-year-old businesswoman who had just graduated from some cool university. She already had job offers right out of school, a good family who supported her, and a loving boyfriend who it sounded like probably would've married her soon. She'd had a good life ahead of her, it was too bad someone had killed her.

She'd also discovered that Mister Miles Edgeworth would be prosecuting her. Rumor had it that he was going for an easy case, after his disastrous loss against Phoenix. This one wasn't gonna be that easy, since she obviously didn't do it, but she didn't like how self-assured he was. He must have a heck of a case against her, he wasn't dumb enough to underestimate Wright. Whatever, Phoenix was smart and she didn't do it. They'd find the killer one way or another.

The time came, and she was ushered into the Courtroom.

She was lead to the defendant's seat, and a bailiff stood behind her in case she made a break for it. Phoenix wasn't here yet, she noted, but Edgeworth was standing regally in his place behind the prosecutor's desk. And he really was regal, he looked quite dashing in his crimson suit and white cravat. Hm. Maybe he was the reason she liked men in red suits so much.

He glanced at her, and they made eye contact for a moment before he sniffed and looked away. She rolled his eyes at him and looked back at the defense's bench, just in time to see Phoenix entering the room with Maya at his heels. He noticed her looking at him, and offered her a smile. Good sign.

"Court is now in session for the trial of Mrs. Lydia Godwin." The judge announced, and Lydia almost snickered at him calling her "mrs" before she remembered she was married now.

"The prosecution is ready, your honor." Edgeworth said evenly.

"The defense is ready, your honor." Phoenix shot his opponent a glance. They eyed each other for a few seconds, and Edgeworth was smirking. Bad sign.

"Mr. Edgeworth, please give the court your opening statement." The judge began.

"Thank you, your honor." Edgeworth straightened the stack of papers in his hand and glanced at the first one. "Amanda Hillard, the victim of this murder, was found two days ago in Churchill square, killed by a bullet to the heart. The defendant, Mrs. Godwin, was arrested at the scene of the crime two days ago, holding the gun that killed her. The prosecution sees no reason to doubt the facts of this case." She stuck her tongue out at him. He didn't notice.

"The defense requests that you present the evidence you believe proves my client's guilt." Phoenix's voice was even, but his mouth was tight.

"Very well." Edgeworth lifted up a plastic evidence bag, inside of which was a gun and two bullets. "This gun fired the bullet that killed Ms. Hillard. The defendant's fingerprints are the only prints present on the gun, therefore it can be concluded that the defendant is the one who fired the gun." Edgeworth turned to the Judge. "I would like to submit this gun to the court as evidence."

"Granted." A bailiff took it from him.

"What about the other bullet?" Phoenix asked.

"Found embedded in a wall. It's unclear whether it was intended to kill, or was simply fired as a warning shot."

"My client claims to have picked up the gun in order to defend herself after having heard shooting. We can't rule out that possibility."

"And the lack of any other prints?"

"The killer could well have been wearing gloves."

"Very well." Edgeworth turned to look at the judge. "The prosecution would like to call our first witness- Brian Hayle, Miss Hillard's boyfriend."

Lydia watched with mild interest as a young man with red hair and freckles made his way down from the spectators' area. He was dressed in a T-shirt with what looked like a band logo on it, and a pair of blue jeans. His face was kinda scrunched, like he was trying his best to look upset. He was probably the killer.

"Mr. Hayle, please state your name and occupation." Edgeworth instructed.

"Brian Hayle, Sociology Major at Churchill University." His voice was deep. He sounded like a chad.

"Can you tell me where you were at 11:39 PM on the night of the murder?" Edgeworth didn't even look at him, fiddling with his papers.

"Y-yeah, sure." Brian squared his shoulders. "Amanda sent me a text around 10:45 that night, asking me to meet her in Churchill square." Part of his college, then? "I went there to meet up with her, and she arrived a little before 11:30. We talked, and she…" His face flushed red, and he looked at the ground. "She broke up with me.

"She'd found email correspondences with a young woman I met on the internet. We'd flirted back and forth a bit, she said she needed an 'escape from married life'. I'd broken it off a couple months ago, but Amanda was… still understandably upset. I was trying to explain myself to her when she was shot." He stopped, and Phoenix waited a moment before asking,

"And, how exactly is this relevant to my client?"

"She was the girl I'd cheated on Amanda with." Lydia was on her feet in 0.2 seconds.

"You punk a-"

"Do you have proof of this claim?" Phoenix interrupted loudly, drowning out her colorful language. Brian looked offended.

"I'm under oath!"

"As well as that," Edgeworth drawled, tapping his stack of paper against the desk. "The evidence Miss Hillard used to accuse her boyfriend of cheating was found at the crime scene, several pages of emails. I would like to present these as evidence to the court." A bailiff collected them, and set them on the evidence desk. "If you were to examine these pages, you would see that every other message is signed with the initial "L". As you all must realize, this is the defendant's first initial." Edgeworth threw a smirk at Phoenix, who looked lost.

"Okay, back up." Lydia snapped. "Can we go back to the part where this soggy slice of meatloaf just accused me of cheating on my husband?"

"Miss Godwin-" Phoenix cut in, but she kept going.

"No, no. Even if I was a friggin' cheater, that would be like throwing away a four-course gourmet meal in favor of a moldy sandwich I found on the side of the road." Brian sniffed.

"Of course, you would say that after you learned that I loved Amanda more than I loved you."

"Those are big words coming from someone who most likely pulled the trigger on her yourself."

"Order!" The judge slammed his gavel against its' base. "The defendant will be silent unless called upon to be a witness!" Lydia opened her mouth to fire back a retort, but stopped when she saw Phoenix gesturing wildly for her to shut up. She scoffed, then sent Brian one last venomous glare before sinking back down in her chair.

"The defendant's violent and incriminating reaction aside," Edgeworth spoke, sounding amused. "The evidence clearly shows that she was involved in this murder."

"Objection!" Phoenix shouted, and some of Lydia's seething rage evaporated. "These emails prove nothing! Having an affair with the witness does not mean she would go to the lengths of killing his current partner!"

"Ah, but you're wrong." Edgeworth stepped out from behind his desk, taking the stack of email papers and pulling out the last page. "'I don't care what she thinks," He read aloud. "I love you, and you love me. My husband thinks I'm travelling for work, tell your-" He broke off, frowned at the paper, and then continued. "Tell your woman that she can't keep us apart.'"

"Why would I-" Lydia started, but the judge glared at her, 'ahem'ing loudly in her direction.

"I warned you once already to keep quiet." He tapped his gavel in emphasis. "Mr. Wright, if you cannot come up with enough evidence to disprove the prosecution's claims, I will have no choice but to give my verdict."

"I- give me one moment." Phoenix met her eyes for a fleeting second, then hurried over to the evidence desk to examine the emails.

"Clock's ticking, Wright." Edgeworth reminded him, the faintest of smirks on his face. Lydia's heart began to sink as Phoenix shuffled through the evidence. If he didnt' come up with something soon, she'd get sentenced to death or life in prison, and though obviously Morro would rescue her she wouldn't be able to come here anymore. Not to mention Phoenix would have to deal with a loss, and Edgeworth would get the upper hand again, and the real killer would get away scott free, and oh frick why did she come here in the first pla-

"OBJECTION!" Lydia jumped at Phoenix's yell, her head jerking up to see him pointing straight at Brian. "You claimed to have cut off contact with my client several months ago, correct?" Visibly uncomfortable, Brian nodded. "Then why is it that this message, which the prosecution claimed to have been between the two of you-" Phoenix tapped the stack of papers in his hand. "Is dated the 23rd of November- five days ago!" Brian recoiled, clutching at his chest. Edgeworth looked similarly horrified.

"I- uh-" Brian scrambled for an answer, looking to Edgeworth for help, but the prosecutor's venomous glare sent his gaze flying back to Phoenix. "I don't-"

"Well, Wright, once again you outdo yourself." The judge admitted. "With the witness's claim challenged like that, we are forced to search elsewhere for valid evidence. I hereby adjourn court for the day. Both parties will gather additional evidence, and we will reconvene here tomorrow." He tapped his gavel on the platform in front of him. "Court dismissed!"

* * *

**Candy if I messed up stuff just lemme know, I tried my best to keep it canon-reliant but im not as much as an expert as you**

**~FFF**


	4. Turnabout Realms - Second Trial Part 1

**whoopee I got 2 reviews**

**okay guys for real tho, even if you dont know this fandom, please appreciate this mystery im writing, this is a lot harder than it looks**

* * *

Lydia walked through the courthouse lobby, a guard on either side of her to make sure she didn't run. As far as trials went, that wasn't _that_ bad. Not that she'd been to a ton before. And by that she meant any, ever.

Edgeworth was standing on the far side of the room, having a quiet, animated conversation with Brian. Lydia stopped walking, grabbing one of the guard's sleeves and tugging.

"Hey, can I ask the prosecutor a question? I promise I won't yell." The guards exchanged glances, then one said slowly,

"Alright, but only one question." Smiling, she turned, striding across the room towards the pair as her guards followed a few feet behind. Edgeworth caught a glimpse of her as she approached, then turned, folding his arms over his chest.

"Do I have business with you?" He asked coldly. Maintaining a straight face, Lydia shook her head. "Then do not waste my-"

"Miles." She interrupted. "If your father could see you now, do you think he would be proud?" Edgeworth froze, his mouth dropping open an inch, and Lydia spun around and walked off. Yeah, she was really mean. But he kinda deserved it.

"Miss Godwin!" Phoenix's voice caught her attention, and she turned to see him jogging across the lobby to catch up with her, Maya at his heels. He looked upset. Oops.

"Hey." She greeted him as he caught up. "Yeah, I know, I'm in trouble. I need to shut up in court."

"Yeah, _please_ do." Phoenix dragged a hand through his hair, and it sprung right back into spikes the moment he let go. "And _please _give me all the details about the case _before_ we go into the courtroom. You didn't tell me you were married." She winced.

"Sorry. We only got married a couple of weeks ago, I always mess up and call him my bf."

"It's fine, we should be fine." He sighed, matching her pace. "Only two weeks ago, you say? I don't suppose you could supply invitations, or anything of the sort? Hayle said you claimed to be trying to escape from married life several months ago."

"Ah, I don't think so. Sorry." She shook her head. "Good thought, though."

"Hmm." The guards pushed the lobby doors open, and the group walked out into the sunshine. The prison was just down the road, but they lead her towards a car anyway. Guess they didn't trust her not to bolt.

As she walked up to the police car, however, she heard a shout, and a petite body slammed into her from the side and nearly knocked her down.

"Karen!" She exclaimed as the young woman hugged her tight. "Oh my goodness, you're here!" She heard guns clicking, and immediately looked up, putting her body between Karen and her guards. "Chill, she's my roommate!" The guards glanced at each other, then lowered their guns.

"Ma'am, please step back." One of the guards ordered tersely. Karen only glared at him.

"Okay, I'm obviously happy to see you, but please don't get shot." Lydia patted her shoulder. "And why are you here all alone? Where's Mo-"

"KAREN!" The yell answered her question, and Morro broke out of a crowd of people on the sidewalk, running towards them. Immediately, the guards lifted their guns again, and he skidded to a stop a few feet away.

"Chill out, I swear! That's my husband!" Morro lifted an eyebrow, and she let go of Karen, glancing at her guards before stepping forward and throwing her arms around his neck. "We're married now, roll with it." She whispered, and he nodded, squeezing her back.

"What happened?" he asked as he pulled away.

"I got arrested the other night, as you may have guessed." She glanced back at the guards, who were watching them warily. "Apparently I killed some poor lady. I think the boyfriend did it, he claimed to have cheated on her with me and then I killed her or something."

"Interesting." He glanced up at Phoenix, and she introduced him.

"This is my attorney, Phoenix Wright, and his partner, Maya Fey. Guys, this is Morro, my husband, and Karen, my roommate and sister-in-law."

"Nice to meet you." Maya chirped, and Karen waved.

"Oh, Karen's mute." Lydia added. "Can't talk. I should probably go to jail now, huh?" She glanced at her guards, who looked tense, and one nodded.

"You two may come along, but you are not permitted in the vehicle." He addressed Karen and Morro, and the other one opened the car door for her.

"Phoenix, can you- Sorry, Mr. Wright, can you show them where the jail is?" He nodded, and she slipped into the backseat of the car. "See you guys." She waved, then the guard shut her door and the car pulled away.

Once back at the prison, she chilled for a bit as some info about her was updated, then was brought back to that one room with the plexiglass, whatever it was called. She waited a couple more minutes, then Morro and Karen were admitted into the other side.

"Alright, who do I need to kill?" Morro asked the moment the door was closed.

"Morro!" Lydia scolded, fully aware of the guard standing behind her. "We're not killing anyone. That would only get us all in more trouble."

"Alright, fine. Who do we need to put in jail?"

"This 'Brian Hayle' dude. He was super sketchy and was lying a mile a minute. He's not that good at it, he screwed up pretty bad, but still. Sketchy. He probably did it."

"Mmm." Karen leaned close to the barrier, signing,

"_Why are they so convinced you did it?_"

"My fingerprints were on the gun, 'cause Morro handed it to me to defend myself if need be. And they have some emails between the boyfriend and the girl he was cheating with, which were signed 'L'. Fortunately, the boyfriend's testimony is no longer totally trustworthy, as Phoenix caught him in a lie. However, _mister _Edgeworth excels at manipulating information, and I may or may not have pissed him off, so… he's a force to be reckoned with."

"He's the one trying to get you locked up, then?" Morro asked, and Lydia nodded. "Wonderful."

"_Of course,_" Karen signed. "_Even if you are convicted, we can simply take you back to our Earth."_

"Yeah, but that would still kinda suck."

"What?" Morro broke in, and Lydia shook her head slightly, nodding towards the guard behind her. "Ah."

"But, I have faith in Phoenix. I know he can figure this out."

"Well, he'd better."

"Shh, it'll be fine, I promise."

TurnaboutRealms

"Okay Nick, be honest. Am I the only one who thinks our client is a little screwy?"

"Maya!" Phoenix scolded. "We're professionals! We can't speak that way about our client!"

"Why not? It's not like she's paying us." Maya stretched her arms out to the sides as she stepped onto the rim of the fountain, making her way around the edge.

"That doesn't matter. We have a code of conduct to upkeep." Phoenix glanced into the fountain on a hunch, but there was nothing inside but water and spare change. "...what do you mean, 'screwy'?"

"Well…" Maya's balance wavered, and she hopped back down onto the cobblestones. "She just… she gives off a vibe of being different." She paused. "Almost like she knows too much."

"Well, she did say she was a tourist here. Maybe she did her research."

"She seems too calm, too. Most clients are… I dunno, worried! I met a lot of Mia's clients, and they were usually freaked out. The only one I remember who wasn't was the real killer."

"Maya."

"What?"

"We can't defend our client if we don't trust her."

"I do trust her, kinda! I'm just saying." Maya stuck her hands behind her back, glancing around the often-busy square. "Sure is nice here when no one's around."

"There's no one around because someone was murdered here, Maya." Phoenix reminded her tiredly.

"Yeah, but still!" Maya stopped, leaning over the ground. "Hey, does this look important to you?" Phoenix looked over to see his partner examining a bullet casing on the ground.

"Let me see." The younger girl picked up the casing delicately and passed it to him, letting him examine it. "It looks like a standard casing. Ms. Godwin reported lots of shooting, so there's no telling who shot this bullet, but it could be helpful." He pocketed it. "Maya, if you really think there's something going on with her, then I suppose you can ask her about it. But, I'm not going to change how I defend her just based on a 'weird vibe'."

"Yeah, yeah, okay."

TurnaboutRealms

The killer sat at the foldout table in their apartment, examining their latest find under a magnifying glass. It looked fairly old - maybe early 1800s? Quite an interesting specimen.

They glanced over at the newspaper lying beside them, skimming the page it was opened to. Some poor newlywed had taken the fall. Unfortunate, but sadly necessary. Such was the order of life if they were to survive.

The killer smiled, holding up the trinket to the light. Yes, this would be a wonderful addition indeed.

* * *

**yeah if you need me I'll be researching forensic stuff because writing mysteries is hard**

**~FFF**


	5. Turnabout Realms - Second Trial Part 2

**oh yeah, I just finished the summer semester hence more free time. I have a while 2 weeks till I have to start the next semester so im kinda rushing a bit. take more lawyers.**

**Review replies: **

**The Mayor of Ninjago City: Thanks! Oh, did I already ask you if I can visit The Fire Within: A Ninjago Cowboy sometime? I meant to but I probably forgot. I gotta do something about your Morro, he sucks.**

**Ebony: Everything about Ace Attorney cases is complicated, and this one is no different.**

* * *

_November 28th, 2016_

"Court is now in session once again for the trial of Mrs. Lydia Godwin." The judge announced. "I trust that we will not have a repeat of last time's outburst?" Lydia casually looked away.

"We will not." Phoenix assured him. "The defense is ready to begin."

"As is the prosecution." Edgeworth spared a glance at Lydia. His glare was icy. Haha oops.

"Last time we were here, we established the Mr. Brian Hayle's testimony is not completely trustworthy." The Judge looked to Edgeworth. "Do we have any update on this information, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"I spoke with my witness on the subject." His voice was noticeably strained. "He claims the dates on the emails were inaccurate, perhaps tampered with. However, this is no reason for Miss Hillard to have done so, and the documents have been kept in a secure location since their collection three days ago. Therefore, I no longer believe we can trust this witness."

"I see. Mr. Wright, do you have any updates?"

"I examined the crime scene and the current evidence, and found a bullet casing that is currently in forensics, but nothing more. I do, however, have a witness who was there the night the murder took place." Phoenix replied. Probably Morro, he was there and technically a witness.

"As do I." Edgeworth countered.

"Then I would like to ask the court's permission to call my witness first." Phoenix glanced at the judge, who looked at Edgeworth.

"Any objection from the prosecution?"

"None. Go ahead." Phoenix frowned, then turned to the Judge. "The defense calls forward their first witness - the husband of the accused, Morro Godwin." Called it.

Morro stood up from where he had been sitting beside Karen, and made his way to the witness stand. He was wearing the camera case with the Realm Crystal in it, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

"State your name and occupation, please." Phoenix told him, and Morro glanced at Lydia before answering.

"Morro Godwin, Martial Arts Instructor." Through a very complicated chain of communication, in which Lydia signed information to Karen and she later wrote it down for him in Ninjagian, Lydia had relayed the extent of the story she had given Phoenix and the court so far so there wouldn't be any inconsistencies. He'd agreed to try to stay within the lines of this preestablished story if he needed to make anything up.

"Can you tell me where you were the night of November 25th?" Phoenix asked. Morro nodded, leaning forward to rest his arm against the podium.

"I was touring Churchill square with my wife."

"Can you describe the events you witnessed there that night?" Morro threw one more glance at Lydia before he began.

"At about 11:20 PM, Lydia and I left our hotel towards the square. We walked, and I took some pictures of the city. When we arrived at the square about ten minutes later, I took more pictures while Lydia read a newspaper. A few minutes passed, and we heard a scream, then shooting. We ran for an alleyway, and Lydia nearly slipped on a gun. I handed it to her in case she needed to defend herself, and we hid in the alley until the shooting stopped. We were just about to leave when the police arrived, and Lydia told me to back to the hotel, which I did." He looked at Lydia, and she gave him a thumbs-up.

"May I ask," Edgeworth spoke up. "You claim to have been photographing the square. Would it be possible for us to examine the photos for any clues they might reveal?" Lydia blinked. She… had not thought of that.

"Unfortunately, no." Morro didn't bat an eye. "In my haste to get back to the hotel, I dropped my camera. It wasn't badly damaged, but the memory card with the pictures on it was destroyed. The camera is back at the hotel now, since it doesn't have a chip."

"If that is so, then why are you wearing the case?" Morro shrugged.

"It feels odd to be without it."

"But you are not an occupational photographer, correct? You are a…" Edgeworth glanced down at his notes. "A martial arts teacher?"

"That is correct."

"Then why do you constantly have the camera on you?"

"It's called a hobby, get one." Morro snapped, his patience wearing thin.

"Mr. Edgeworth, I see no reason to pursue this angle." The Judge stopped him. "Please refrain from badgering the witness." Edgeworth merely nodded and made a note. Lydia, however, was slightly disturbed. The prosecutor usually was careful to stay on topic, so that meant this seemingly pointless line of questioning had something to do with the case. Was there a hole in her story?

"What hotel are you staying at?" Edgeworth asked, sounding unperturbed.

"Ah…" Morro frowned. "Something generic, I can't quite remember the-" He was interrupted by a loud whistle from the crowd, and Lydia looked up to see Karen stand up and fingerspell "S-U-N-S-H-I-N-E-I-N-N". "Sunshine Inn. Thank you, Karen." Morro could fingerspell?

"Who is that?" Edgeworth asked.

"Karen, my sister. She's staying with us."

"Would she be able to stand as a witness?"

"Uh, she didn't witness the murder taking place, she was at the hotel. Also, she's mute. She'd need Lydia to translate for her."

"Or I could simply ask her only yes or no questions." Edgeworth extended a hand towards her. "Ms. Godwin, if you are willing?" Karen frowned, but made her way down to the floor. Morro exchanged glances with Lydia, then left to reclaim his seat.

"Ms. Karen Godwin, correct?" Edgeworth asked as the raven-haired young woman stepped up to the podium. She nodded, and he continued. "How long have you known the defendant for?" Karen tilted her head, and Lydia whispered loudly,

"That's me." Karen snapped her fingers, then lifted two of them.

"Two years?" A nod. "Would you say the two of you are close?" Another nod. "Can you confirm the time of day at which the defendant claims to have left the hotel, at 11:20 PM?" More nodding. What did he hope to get from her? "Then I assume you were present at their recent wedding." Slow nod, one eyebrow raised. "Where did that take place?"

"Objection!" Phoenix interrupted him. "Is there a point to this? This 'witness' wasn't even present at the scene."

"Sustained. I believe we should move on to your own witness now, Mr. Edgeworth." The Judge agreed.

"Very well, then." Edgeworth still looked super calm. "In that case, I have just one mnore question for Mr. Godwin." Morro raised an eyebrow, standing up.

"Do I have to come back down, then?"

"Please." Morro and Karen switched places again, Morro taking his place at the witness stand once more. "You told the court that you handed your wife the murder weapon to use to defend herself if need be, correct?"

"That's right."

"Why is it, then, that her fingerprints are on the gun - but not yours?" Morro blinked.

"Fingerprints?" Oh no.

"I can only surmise from this that you never touched the gun," Edgeworth continued. "But such a small detail would be pointless to lie about, unless you had an ulterior motive for doing so - such as you never being there in the first place."

"Wait, what's a fingerprint?" Edgeworth stared.

"It's a print your finger leaves when you touch something." Lydia told him tiredly. "And you didn't leave any because…" ...because he had picked it up with wind.

"...right." They both looked at Edgeworth, who raised an eyebrow.

"Please, explain to the court how you picked up a firearm without leaving any sort of prints." Morro blinked.

"I… don't know." He said lamely.

"I see." Lydia just sat and stared at him. She couldn't tell him what to say in the middle of court.

"I take it we cannot confirm your presence that night, then." Karen stood up and started signing, but Edgeworth held out a hand towards her to stop her. "Surely the court realizes that a mute, loyal sister cannot be trusted in this situation, especially since the only one who can understand and translate her words is the accused." Karen made a rude gesture at him that didn't need a translation.

"Now just a minute!" Phoenix protested. "There were two law enforcement officers in the square that night, and both reported seeing a man, their description of whom fits Mr. Godwin!"

"So he may have been present. That does not answer why his fingerprints were not on the gun." Morro looked at Lydia.

"I don't suppose I can-"

"No, you can't." She grumbled. "That's not allowed." He was under strict orders from her, Karen, and anyone else who knew about it not to use his powers in front of people who wouldn't understand.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, then." Morro threw his hands up in the air. "Maybe I was wearing gloves. It is, in case you haven't noticed, cold at night."

"Your honor, I request that this witness be removed and their testimony deemed invalid." Edgeworth ignored him, glancing up at the judge.

"Objection! The witness gave a valid reason for his fingerprints to not be on the gun!" Phoenix argued.

"Your witness is making it painfully clear that he has no idea what he's talking about." Edgeworth told him cooly. "Your honor?"

"Mr. Godwin, return to your seat." The Judge ordered, and Morro obeyed, looking defeated. Lydia fingerspelled 'it's okay' at him, and he pursed his lips but nodded.

"If we're finished," Edgeworth tapped his stack of notes against the desk. "The prosecution calls their first witness - Anthony Braum, member of the 'Talons' street gang, and Miss Hillard's cousin."

* * *

**geez these court dates take forever. at this rate im gonna miss youth group.**

**~FFF**


	6. Now you're playing with CUBES - part 1

**sorry, no Lawyers content for you yet. i must satisfy my current obsession first.**

* * *

"Lydia." Morro stated, exasperated. "You said you weren't going anywhere filled with monsters. You're going to die."

"I can die anywhere." Lydia shot back. "Anywhere with a high drop, sign me up. But uh, my point is this isn't any more dangerous than most of the worlds I visit. It'll be fine. Besides, you're coming with me!"

"I never agreed to this."

"You don't have to." Morro sighed.

"Anyway, 'not any more dangerous'? Really? A universe filled with undead and other horrifying creatures is no more dangerous than the realm with angry lawyers?" Lydia snorted a laugh.

"Okay, maybe a bit more dangerous. But I'm a Minecraft expert, I'll be fine."

"It's probably different when you're not an avatar?"

"Shh, still. The rules are probably the same." Morro crossed his arms.

"I still don't like it."

"Don't worry about it." After her adventures of questionably success into several other dimensions, Lydia had determined that the next best place to hang out was in was the classic sandbox game, Minecraft. After confirming that it did indeed exist, Lydia had pulled together her squad to figure out that time difference so she could learn how much she could play at a time. Morro was not incredibly thrilled, but Lydia wasn't sure if it was the worries he professed about her being in danger, or just because he was bored by the idea of hanging out in a world full of cubes.

"Ready, Karen?" Lydia asked, grabbing the Realm Crystal from its' home in her closet and stepping back out into the open. Karen gave her a thumbs-up from where she stood with her watch, and Lydia opened a portal before grabbing Morro's hand. Her boyfriend let out an exaggerated sigh, but relented and followed her in.

They popped out in the middle of a plains biome.

"Okay!" Tossing Morro the Realm Crystal and ignoring him as he fumbled to catch it, Lydia planted her hands on her hips, gazing around at the blocky landscape. "So we're in survival. Let's go chop down a tree."

"Keep track of the time." Morro reminded her idly as she started off towards the forest that bordered the other side of the field.

"Right, whatever." Striding up to the trunk of the tree, Lydia stood on her tiptoes and knocked on the bark of the highest block she could reach. A crack appeared in the center of it. "Ha!"

"Sometimes, you get really excited about things." Morro remarked, landing next to her.

"I know! And I love it!" She knocked on the piece of wood until it broke, then started on the next piece. "Help me out."

"Fine." Morro tucked the Realm Crystal into the case hanging around his neck, then moved to another tree and started to dig up the blocks.

"Can you get this last block for me? I can't reach it." Lydia called over upon digging up the bottom piece of the trunk.

"Sure." Morro finished up his own tree, then floated over to help as she sat down to try and figure out how to craft.

"So it's a game, right? So game rules." Taking one of the tiny blocks, Lydia rapped on it with her knuckles. Nothing happened.

"Hey, you're the expert."

"I wonder how you craft in VR." The brunette held up a hand, palm out, to see if she could summon a menu. Nope.

"I figured it out." her boyfriend called, and she looked up to see him standing in front of her with 4 wooden planks floating by him on the ground. "Set it on the ground and tap it." Lydia did so, and the block split into planks.

"Ohhh that's so cool!" Arranging the planks in a square, Lydia tapped them again, and they combined into a crafting table. "I love this."

"Yeah, I could tell." Morro sat down next to her, watching as she stood and placed the crafting table. When it grew to full size, she split a plank in half and crafted herself an axe.

"Can you get more wood?" She tossed it to him, and he caught it, weighing it in his hand.

"How is this supposed to help? It's flat."

"Give it a try." He looked unconvinced, but headed off to another tree anyway. In the meantime, Lydia crafted a pick and started to dig up the block of dirt next to her.

By the time Morro came back, Lydia was a few blocks underground, mining cobblestone. He dumped his armful of blocks next to the hole, and looked down as she picked up her 24th block.

"May I ask what you're doing?"

"Getting stone, of course. Help me up." She reached up a hand for him to grab, and he obliged, taking her hand and pulling her up. "We can use stone to make better tools." She explained, taking the wooden logs and turning them into sticks before making them both a set of tools. "Now we head underground."

"We have to be almost out of time, don't we?" Morro pointed out, and Lydia glanced at her watch.

"Oh, yeah. Oh well. We'll come back later." Turning the remaining logs into planks, she crafted a chest and stuck the tools into it. "Can I have the Crystal?" Morro handed it to her, and she created a portal just as the timer on her watch went off, stepping back through into her room.

"Karen, what's the time?" She asked. Karen dropped the watch. "Karen?" Shaking her head, the dark-haired girl bent down to pick it up, stopping the stopwatch and showing it to her. "Five seconds?" Lydia read off in confusion. "It's been about that time since we got back." Karen gave her a dumbfounded nod. "So basically no time passes here while we're in Minecraft?" Another nod. "Oh."

"Oh no." Morro muttered.

"Oh yes. Let's go back in. Karen, do you wanna come?" She was given an enthusiastic nod, and Lydia created another portal, taking her friends' hands and pulling them inside.

* * *

"I don't like this game."

"I know, I know, it's hard right now, but we'll be done with this phase soon."

"No, I just don't like this game."

"Well… it'll grow on you." Lydia's torchlight fell on sparkling ore, and she let out a delighted gasp. "Diamonds!" The three of them had been mining for about an hour now, and each of them had a couple pieces of iron armor and a set of iron tools due to the richness of iron ore in this cave system. They still had no idea how to use their inventories, so they carried around their loot in a chest that Morro floated behind them.

One oddity that Lydia had noted was a lack of mobs. They'd come across a couple, a skeleton and a zombie (which were not, in fact, blocks, and were fairly scary), but they fought them off with relative ease and kept going. After that, though, the mobs had basically stopped. They hadn't come across any in a good half-hour, despite the fact that they had been exploring this one cave for a while now. Maybe the mob spawn rate was different here.

"Diamonds?" Morro echoed as she tapped her pick against the block, setting her torch beside it as she dug it up.

"So there's wood, then stone, then iron, then diamond is the best." Lydia caught the floating diamond in her hand as it fell. "And I guess gold too, but that's not important. We need at least 5 before we can go up to the surface."

"Why?"

"Efficiency." Lydia dug up a second block of ore. "Lucky for us, there's 5 blocks of ore here! So once we get some obsidian we can go up. We need 14 blocks of obsidian."

"...why?"

"I'll show you when we get it." Lydia finished digging up the diamonds, then pulled her crafting table out of her pocket and placed it, crafting a diamond pick. "C'mon, let's keep going." She took a step, but stopped at a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Karen signing at her in the light of her torch.

"I saw movement down there."

"Oh. Okay. Morro, Karen saw a mob, stay on the alert." Hefting her shield, Lydia lifted a torch high in her other hand, and cautiously began to make her way down the passage.

Interestingly enough, there were still a total of no mobs. The only thing down the tunnel was a waterfall that fell over lava, conveniently providing them with obsidian. Lydia spent about 5 minutes digging up the required blocks, then the trio headed back towards the surface - which wasn't difficult since they could just dig a tunnel straight up and let Morro carry them out. Lydia crafted them a compass, and they headed back towards the field in which they first spawned.

The next few hours they spent building a base. Lydia insisted in their house being beautiful, so despite Morro's best effort to build a house out of cobblestone and dirt they ended up having a partially-underground base built into a small hill. She then spent half an hour collecting flowers and planting them around it.

Lydia started building a farm as Karen worked in decorating the base and Morro worked on complaining a lot. She eventually got him to scout out the area around their spawn, collecting sugarcane and looking for herds of animals to imprison later. By the end of the day, they had a quaint little survival base set up.

Now all they had to do was wait for the undead.

* * *

**yeah so you've probably noticed ive been posting a minecraft fic. if you haven't read it, go check it out, it's surprisingly fun & doesnt require much bg knowledge of minecraft.**

**~FFF**


	7. Now you're playing with CUBES - part 2

**dont ask me how or why im writing this fast because I dont know**

* * *

The mobs did not spawn.

Lydia and her squad spent the night in their new base, but soon found that they were just as safe going outside as in the daytime. Not a single mob appeared, not even in the woods. So, Morro and Lydia went out into the forest to get more wood while Karen slept, which she didn't need a bed to do. By morning, they were starting to run low on food, so they popped back to Earth for a minute to get some supplies.

Returning a few minutes later with some bags for storage and some nonperishable snacks, Lydia was surprised to find that a lot of time seemed to have passed. Their crops were mature, and the saplings she'd planted were full-grown trees. Time passed just as quickly while they were on Earth, then.

That night, mobs began to spawn normally for the first time, and Karen asked to go home. Lydia sent her back, but kept the Realm Crystal, of course. She'd rather not be stranded there for a hundred years or whatever. She asked Morro if he wanted to go home, but he'd refused, saying he didn't want to leave her there alone.

So the two of them played Minecraft for a couple days. Lydia quickly gathered livestock and started breeding them with the wheat from her farm to get food and leather (eating minecraft food was weird, it felt like eating a meat-flavored cracker, but whatever works), while Morro shadowed her and helped as needed. While the animals were not blocks, they behaved just like minecraft animals did, as did the hostile mobs. So getting towards the mid-game proceeded just like an ordinary Minecraft game would.

On night 4, the mobs stopped spawning again. Lydia searched the area around their base, Morro at her heels, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Something was definitely different, though. Mob spawnrate didn't just change for no reason, right? Unless it went through cycles or something.

Regardless, Lydia had a nagging feeling that something else was up, although she couldn't tell if it was good or bad. Only time would tell - and she had basically all eternity to figure it out.

* * *

"Hey, what's this?" Reaching into some tall grass, Morro picked up a redstone torch and held it up.

"Redstone torch." Stepping closer, Lydia peered down into the grass. "Sometimes those go with traps I think, but I don't see any."

"Hmm." Twirling his axe in his hand, Morro started chopping down the next tree. "Redstone, like the dust?"

"Yeah, it's like electricity on Earth, I guess. Redstone can be used to make wires and machines. I never was any good at that, though." Lydia climbed onto a stump to get to a block of wood above her. "Remind me to show you some of the stuff people have made later. It's super cool."

"Mm." It was now day 7. They hadn't seen any mobs in a little while, not since a few nights ago. They needed to go mining soon, they were running low on iron. "Hey, do you have the compass?"

"Yeah."

"Okay good, I was worried we'd left it behind." A few moments of silence, punctuated only by the thump of their tools against wood.

"Did we feed the cows?"

"Yep." More silence. "Are you bored?"

"Kinda."

"Can we go home then? At least for a little bit?" Morro turned from the tree to catch her attention. "I don't dislike it here, but… it gets kinda dull after a while. As long as-" He broke off, his hand shooting to her side to grab her sleeve. "Lydia."

"What?" She looked down at him in concern, and he pointed with his axe into the woods. She followed his gaze down until she saw what he had spotted, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

A humanoid figure was standing in the shadow of the trees, eerily still. She couldn't make out their features from the distance, except for white eyes that glowed against their dark face. Slowly, silently, the figure blinked, then disappeared without a trace. Lydia's hand dropped from her mouth.

"Oh frick."

"Um, who was that? I thought we were alone here?" Morro demanded as she hopped off the stump, grabbing the redstone torch again.

"Herobrine. I didn't think he was real." She held up the torch. "These were supposed to be a sign of Herobrine, I don't know why it never occurred to me. I bet he's behind the mobs not spawning too!"

"Who the heck is Herobrine?"

"Uh, a myth, I thought." Turning the torch over and over in her hands, she mused over this new piece of information. "He has lots of legends about him, dunno which are true. I don't know if he's dangerous or not, but I'm pretty sure he's powerful. Would be good to not get on his bad side, assuming we're not already." Stopping, she reached down to collect blocks of wood, shoving them in her bag. "Let's head back to base. I need to go back to earth and do some research."

"I like this plan." Helping her collect the rest of the wood off the ground, Morro cast one last glance at where the figure had been before turning to head back towards the base.

On the short walk back, Lydia mused over their sighting. She knew a decent bit about Herobrine, but it had been a while since she last researched him. Weren't there a couple other creepypastas with glowing eyes? Null and Alexbrine? Null was all black, though, and the figure she'd seen looked like a male. Probably Herobrine.

(On that note, why was Alexbrine called Alexbrine? Herobrine wasn't called she real or was she just an extension of the Herobrine legend?)

"Hey! Earth to Lydia!" Morro snapped his fingers in front of her face and she jumped. "I'm gonna go put the wood away in the chest. Give me your bag."

"Right, yeah." Lydia grabbed a stack of steak before handing it over, eating one of the steak-crackers as she made her way over to the armor chest to dump her equipment in there. No point in taking it outside the world. Unless she wanted to win a cosplay contest or something.

"Come on, let's go. 'Herobrine' can wait a few years, maybe he'll decide we're not worth it." Morro called as he came down the stairs, pulling the Realm Crystal out of its' case. Lydia stopped.

"Wait." Morro paused, Realm Crystal raised in front of him. "He's been all alone here for who knows how long. We should tell him we're gonna be back."

"Okay first off, how do you know he's alone? Second, didn't you say you don't know if he's dangerous? Maybe we shouldn't tell him anything."

"Call it a good feeling." Grabbing a couple logs out of a chest, Lydia crafted a few signs. "I'd just… feel really bad if we left without saying anything. He'd think we left because of him."

"...that is literally what we're doing."

"Weren't we about to leave anyway? And he hasn't done anything to us yet, as far as we know he actually stopped the monsters from spawning near our base."

"That's not a very compelling argument."

"Please?" Lydia turned to give him a sad look. He gave her a blank one in return."I just don't want him to think he's lost us. We might be the only people he's seen in a really long time."

"You know what? I forgot you have a knack for befriending everyone, regardless of level of evil. Fine, go leave him a message." Morro sighed, waving her off, and she blew him a kiss before heading outside.

She placed the sign a little ways away from the house, between it and the farm, and wrote,

" Herobrine,  
We're coming back, but  
it might be a while. "

She paused, then placed another.

" When we come back,  
can you come so we can  
talk? "

Placing the last sign and leaving it blank, Lydia turned and headed back to the house. She didn't really want to leave for long, but Morro deserved a break, he wasn't used to this world. Besides, she needed to look some things up.

* * *

**its HIM**

**~FFF**


	8. Now you're playing with CUBES - part 3

***wads this chapter up into a ball and hurls it* I need attention, take this Content**

* * *

"Are you doing your school?" Lydia blinked, looking up to see her mom standing over her.

"No." She closed the Herobrine wiki page. "I'm doing important other-dimension research."

"Well, make sure you keep track of your homework." She gave the screen a suspicious look, then walked off. Lydia pulled up the page again, then clicked a link to a youtube video and skimmed through it. Annoyingly enough, most Herobrine stuff was probably fake. If he was real, and Earth knew about him, some of it had to be true, but there was no way to figure out which ones. Short of going back and asking him.

"Morro!" She called, locking the computer and pushing her swivel chair back. "I'm going back! Do you wanna come?"

"Do I have any choice?" His exasperated voice came from the other room.

"...yes, that's why I asked."

"I can't risk you getting murdered, so yeah, let's go." Morro picked himself up off the couch, and followed her glumly back up to her room.

"You really don't have to come if you don't want to." She reminded him as she summoned the portal.

"Yeah, I do."

"I could go get Lloyd or someone and ask them to be my bodyguard."

"No, I'm good."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." Standing up on her tiptoes, she kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks." Then she walked into the portal before he had a chance to respond.

A lot of time had obviously passed again. All the wheat was mature, the sugarcane was at max height, and the forest had encroached on the base slightly due to the saplings they'd planted a little while ago. Lydia glanced around as Morro followed her through the portal, noting the signs she'd placed were still there. Had he seen them?

Wandering over to them, she stopped short upon seeing text on the last sign. He had.

" Thank you.  
You are  
different "

"I think he's good." Lydia reported as Morro followed her over. "He's polite, anyway, which is more than can be said for some bad guys I've redeemed." She fixed him with a glare, and he smacked her gently.

"Because I was evil, which was why you had to redeem me in the first place. Didn't we have more cows the last time we were here?" Lydia blinked, then followed his gaze to the animals' pens.

"No idea. C'mon, I'm gonna craft some more signs. Can you harvest the wheat?"

"Yeah." They split up, Lydia heading for the house while Morro floated towards the field. Grabbing some wooden logs from a stack in the corner, she crafted them into planks, then started to turn them into signs when she heard a block be placed behind her.

She stared at the crafting table for a few seconds more before turning, and caught the faintest flash of a figure behind her before they disappeared, leaving a sign placed on the wall. Pressing a hand to her chest, she let out a breath before venturing closer to read it.

"You came back."

The simple statement made her feel Feelings. How long had passed since they had been gone? Years? Even months would be a really long time to be alone. Placing another sign next to it, she left him a message.

"Yeah. You don't have  
to run away. Can you  
come and talk to us? "

It would be easier to just have a direct conversation with him, rather than this roundabout method of communication. God forbid she should have to actually wait for him to come back and respond. Maybe he was just nervous.

She went to check on Morro while she waited, and told him about the sign. His new rule was that she was not allowed to leave his side for any reason while they were in the game. Which was fair enough, she didn't think Herobrine would hurt her but she really couldn't be sure.

They spent the rest of the day catching up on chores, and Lydia built a couple of bookcases for the enchanting table. She hadn't actually figured out how to use it yet, but maybe it would work itself out when it was fully levelled. She didn't really want to waste her experience trying right now.

Just before bed, as the pair was coming in from collecting wood, they found another sign.

" Not yet. "

"Okay. Fair enough." Lydia left a sign that simply said "Okay.", then headed upstairs to the bedroom.

"Can we go back, then? Wait until he's ready to talk?"

"No, that's too long. I don't want to leave him here alone again." She waited for him to climb the stairs to catch up with her. "Let's spend the night, he'll probably have left another message in the morning." Morro nodded, sitting on one half of the bed.

"Alright."

Minecraft beds were special, they put people to sleep very quickly, which was another reason Lydia loved it there so much. So it didn't take long for the two of them to drift off, side by side.

Neither of them woke up until dawn, so they both missed the figure who entered their room around midnight, watching them silently with blank, white eyes.

* * *

"Alright, I know we had more cows yesterday." Morro planted his hands on his hips, scowling at the cowpen. "Someone killed some of them. And mobs don't attack animals, so it must have been your little friend."

"Maybe he was hungry." Lydia grabbed a stack of wheat. "I'll just breed them again, it's fine."

"It's not fine, he's taking our stuff."

"We don't need all of it. Here." Lydia tossed him the stack, then turned to head towards the house. "I'll leave him a message and ask."

"Fine." Heading into the house, Lydia placed another sign to ask if Herobrine had killed their cows. He hadn't left another message last night, maybe he was somewhere else.

The moment she turned for the door, though, a prickling feeling ran down her spine and she spun around to see a pair of glowing eyes watching her from beneath the stairwell.

She froze, instinctively looking away as not to intimidate him. He didn't move. Slowly, she lowered her hands to her sides, mumbling,

"Hey." There was no response. "Do you need something, or are you just chillin' here?" He doesn't speak, but shakes his head slightly. Turning, he places a sign on the ground, touches it, and text appears.

" Just watching. "

"Do you want me to go?" Another small shake of his head. "Okay. I'm gonna work on some chores, then, okay?" A nod. Slowly, cautiously, she made her way over to a chest and pulled out some stacks of ore, crossing the room to the furnaces and placing them inside. She could still see Herobrine's eyes in the corner of her vision, along with the faint silhouette of his body against the wall.

"Hey, do we have more-" Morro called, slamming the door open, but Lydia threw up a hand to stop him with a

"Shh!" He stopped. Lydia nodded to Herobrine, who still hadn't moved, and Morro slowly raised one eyebrow. "Don't scare him off."

"Did you kill our cows?" Morro called over towards the corner, and Herobrine gave him a small nod. "You should ask before you do that. If you need something, you can bet Lydia's gonna give it to you."

"He's right, if you need something I can get it for you." Lydia confirmed. "Can you come out into the light? I want to see you." He backed up a step, shaking his head. "Okay, that's fine. I'm gonna keep working on chores." Throwing a glance at Morro, Lydia headed for the door. "I'm gonna check on the sugarcane. Make yourself at home, okay?" Herobrine didn't respond, but Morro turned and followed her out.

"He's not a cat, Lydia."

"He's kinda like a cat." Lydia retorted. "He reminds me of a stray. He just acts lost, y'know?"

"It's socially acceptable to bring home lost animals, it's less socially acceptable to bring home lost humanoid creatures with a questionable grasp of morals and ethics."

"First off, there's no society here, I make the rules. Secondly, you." Morro spent a good 15 seconds trying to think of a retort before giving up.

"...yeah, okay."

* * *

**leave me a review please (if nothing else than to yell at me to do my Gosh Dang Homework)**

**~FFF**


	9. Turnabout Realms - Second Trial Part 3

**iM ON WINTER BREAK WOOO**

**Review replies:  
**

** everyone who's enjoying the minecraft fics: good! awesome! Ill probably update that soonish but for now have some LAWYERS**

**HOT-DOG-PIE: Ahhh thank you very much! I'm kinda surprised you're here considering it's like, fourth chronologically among four documents that take place in this universe haha. I have no plans to give up on any of my stories, rest assured!**

* * *

Lydia blinked up at the wiry, yet muscular man that stood at the witness podium. He was honestly beautiful- he reminded her of Lloyd, he had the same platinum-blond hair, a lock of which fell over one blue eye while the rest billowed around his head. He wore a black, leather vest over a white tank top, and had a tattoo that looked like a star with a slash mark through it on his upper left arm. His lovely face threw her off, but otherwise he looked the part of a gang member. He also had a switchblade, so, cool. Why the heck did they let him have that in a courtroom?

"Witness, please state your name and occupation." Edgeworth spoke, and the man replied,

"Anthony Braum, but most people know me as Devil Stango." What a nerd. "I'm a bodyguard for the Talons."

"You were present the night of the murder three days ago, correct?" The man - or was he a teenager, she couldn't tell - nodded. "Can you tell us what you witnessed that night?" Mr. Stango cleared his throat.

"As Edgeworth here mentioned, 'Manda is my- was my cousin." He looked like he was mourning her, poor guy. "The night of the murder, she called me up and asked me to come to the square. Said she was going to confront her boyfriend, who was cheating on her. She said she'd feel safer if I was there, so I grabbed a couple of my pals and we met her there at about 11:25.

"The boyfriend arrived 5 minutes later, and they talked for a bit. I didn't hear anything they said, but Amanda sounded firm and the boyfriend sounded like he was begging. They talked for a few minutes, then a new voice joined them.

"It was obviously a woman when she stepped into view, a few feet away from them, but her face was shadowed. I don't know if it was… her or not." He nodded at Lydia, who sent finger guns back at him. "Amanda's voice rose, and we were just about to step in when she was shot." His voice lowered to a mumble. "The boyfriend fled, and we started shooting. The moon wasn't on our side, though, and the killer vanished into the shadows. I went to check on Manda, but she was already dead." Poor guy. "As far as I know, I didn't hit the killer." Phoenix cleared his throat.

"Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Stango, but while this does bring new information to the table, I don't entirely see how this affects the case."

"On the contrary, it helps to confirm the testimony of Mr. Hayle." Edgeworth tapped his notes. "The presence of a second female confirms the previous witness's claims that an estranged lover shot her in revenge for being broken up with."

"By no means!" Phoenix protested. "Mr. Hayle didn't even mention another girl - only that he assumed my client must have done it! He didn't testify about seeing the killer!"

"Regardless of Hayle's testimony, he was proven in court to be untrustworthy." Edgeworth shot back. "S- Stango's testimony only reconfirms some of Hayle's, making it viable information once more."

"Very well. Then what of this information incriminates my client?"

"Simply it that has been all along." Edgeworth held up one finger. "First, Mrs. Godwin was the only woman, other than Miss Hillard, who was present at the scene that night. Second-"

"Objection!" Phoenix interrupted. "What makes you think there wasn't another woman in the square that night?"

"Mr. Stango," Edgeworth began, but Stango cut him off.

"Please, call me Devil." Edgeworth blinked.

"..._Mr. Stango_, could you tell us if you witnessed anyone else in the square that night?"

"I did not." The young man shook his head. "But, I was focused on my cousin."

"So you can't prove that there was no one else there."

"Can you prove there was?"

"My witness-"

"_Your_ witness was proven to be untrustworthy." The prosecutor interrupted him. "Now if you would let me speak…" Phoenix didn't respond. "Second, she was arrested _holding the murder weapon, _a gun with only her fingerprints on it. Third, regardless of the dates on the emails, they still exist and can be counted as motive."

"Objection!" Phoenix slammed his hand down on his desk. "The passage you read yesterday stated that she had 'told her husband she was going on a business trip'. Why is it, then, that Mrs. Godwin's husband is with her, and both claim to be here to sightsee?"

"Obviously having been caught in a lie, Mrs. Godwin was forced to come up with another excuse at the last minute and take her husband with her in order to alleviate his suspicions."

"...furthermore, why would my client kill the rival of her lover's affections, rather than the lover - who proclaimed he didn't love her - or even her own husband?"

"Love is a fickle thing, _Mr._ Wright." Edgeworth responded icily. "And who am I to judge the actions of the _clearly _mentally unsound?" Oof. Phoenix met his gaze for a few moments, then looked away.

"The defense would like to cross-examine the-" He broke up as a bailiff came up to him, murmuring something in his ear and handing him a plastic bag. "I have just been informed that forensics is finished with the bullet casing I found, and they have confirmed that it was fired from the murder weapon. I would like to submit this casing as evidence."

"Granted." The judge replied, but Edgeworth raised one eyebrow.

"Evidence of what, may I ask?"

"I don't know yet," Phoenix admitted, but his gaze didn't falter. "But I _will_ bring the truth to light."

"Oh, I look forward to it."

"The defense would like to cross-examine the witness." Phoenix repeated himself, ignoring Miles' response.

"Please." Edgeworth seemed altogether too sure of himself. At first he'd just been prosecuting her for the sake of his job, but now… he was different. She would not have said what she said if she knew it would affect him like this.

"Mr. St- Devil, could you please describe in as much detail as you can manage what you saw from the moment Ms. Hillard's boyfriend arrived?" Devil frowned.

"He arrived about 11:30, and as far as I know the square was empty except for the two of them. LIke I said, though, my focus was on Manda." Phoenix nodded, writing something down.

"Where were you and your group positioned in the square?" Devil took a moment to think about it before saying,

"We entered from the eastmost entrance, and were standing in the shadow of one of the dorm buildings, just inside the square. So, at the eastmost side."

"And Ms. Hillard and her boyfriend?"

"About halfway between my group and the fountain." Phoenix frowned, glancing at his notes.

"I see. And as for the killer, could you see the murder weapon in her hand?" Devil blinked, then looked at the podium.

"...I'm not sure. I don't think I did."

"I see." Phoenix picked up his papers to tap them against the desk. "I have one more question."

"Shoot."

"How many shots did you hear, excluding your own?"

"Just one."

"As I suspected. In that case," He shot a glance at his opponent. "I can prove the presence of another person in the square."

"Oh?" Edgeworth's face pinched slightly. "By all means, go ahead."

"If one were to look at the square, they would find that it is a perfect circle, with the fountain centered in the middle." Phoenix lifted up a piece of paper, scrawled on which was a rough sketch of Churchill square. "Mr. Stango reported that he was here," He poked an X drawn on the right side of the drawing. "And Ms. Hillard and her boyfriend here." He touched a Y between the X and the fountain. "He stated that the apparent killer was 'a few feet away from them, which places her here." He pointed to a sketchy circle drawn around the Y.

"However, if this information is accurate, it's impossible for this woman that Mr. Stango spotted to be the killer. This bullet casing-" Phoenix lifted the plastic bag. "Was the only one found that matches the murder weapon, which complies with Mr. Stango's claim that only one shot was fired."

"And?" Edgeworth filled in the moment of silence.

"And this casing was found _here_." Phoenix poked the paper with his pen, making a mark on the other side of the square. "Far away from where the murder occured." Edgeworth stared, and he continued. "A handgun of this caliber could not throw a bullet casing all the way across the square, there have been no reports of high winds, and the square has been blocked off to avoid tampering with the crime scene, the casing must have laid there since it fell. Therefore, the woman who Mr. Stango saw was not the killer, the killer was across the square in the darkness." His opponent opened his mouth to interject, but Phoenix talked over him.

"If we're assuming that the woman Mr. Stango saw, then, is my client, then she was not the killer. If she was not, then the female that was with Ms. Hillard and her boyfriend is a new factor in the case, which must be investigated. I believe it is safe to say that we require another recess to further investigate this situation."

"I agree." The judge spoke up, and Edgeworth shot him a glare that went ignored. "Court is dismissed, we will return tomorrow for a third trial." The court began to disperse, and Lydia shot Phoenix a grin as a bailiff took her back into the lobby.

"Gimme one sec, I wanna see my husband real quick." She stepped away from her escort, who frowned but didn't protest as the members of the court began to exit the courtroom. Before Morro and Karen made their appearance, though, Edgeworth emerged - and, to her shock, made a beeline for her.

"Would you mind terribly if I spoke with the defendant for a moment?" His voice was tight, and she blinked as the bailiff nodded. The moment her escort turned away, Edgeworth grabbed her by the wrist and started in the direction of a hallway, dragging her along with him.

"Hey!" She protested, twisting her wrist out of his grip. "What are you doing?"

"I need to speak with you." He didn't look at her, stopping at the entrance of the hallway. "Alone." When she hesitated, he added, "Now."

"Okay, geez." Warily, she began to follow. "Just don't stab me or something."

"Why would I-"

"Well I don't know, you're dragging me off to somewhere unspecified and won't tell me why?" He just gave her a tired look before turning and unlocking the door to an office. The door squeaked open, and he beckoned her inside, which she did before he stepped through and closed it behind him.

"Now, I have a question, and I would like for you to answer me honestly." Turning to her, Edgeworth clasped his hands behind his back, grey eyes boring into hers. "Who are you?" Lydia blinked.

"Uh, I'm Lydia. Nice to meet you. What?"

"You are not." Turning away, Edgeworth picked up a tablet computer from the desk and pressed a button, causing the screen to light up. "After your _unprecedented_ comment at the end of the first trial, I took the liberty of doing some research on you." Lifting the tablet, he faced the screen towards her, and Lydia blinked at the sight of her facebook page.

"_This_ is Lydia 'Godwin'. She lives in Ohio on the other side of the country, and is currently wrapped up in her studies at her local university. She is _not_ in Los Angeles committing murder." Setting down the tablet, Edgeworth folded his arms over his chest. "So I ask you again, Mrs. Godwin. Who _are_ you? Really?"

* * *

**whoops**

**~FFF**


	10. Now you're playing with CUBES - part 4

**BOOM content**

**...im too tired to write anything, take this thing I wrote forever ago**

* * *

"You know, you're not required to follow me around 24/7."

"That's the point of a bodyguard, isn't it?" Morro lounged against the tree next to her, watching as she climbed up onto the stump to get the top blocks. "Follow you around?"

"I mean, I guess." She climbed down and got the bottom block before moving on to the next tree. "But, I mean, what's gonna happen to me? I have armor, not that we've almost never seen any mobs around here anyway."

"I'm losing track of all those negatives. And that doesn't matter, I'm here to keep an eye on you and that's what I'm gonna do."

"Mm, okay." She caught a sapling as it fell from the leaves, sticking it back on the ground to replace the tree she'd just chopped down. "I'm gonna head back in a minute. It's late."

"I noticed." Morro peered up through the trees at the moon. "Which is why I'm here," He picked up his sword from the ground, twirling it in his hand. "Y'know, armed."

"Eh." Lydia finished up the last block of the tree before stepping down, pulling her compass out of her pocket and squinting in the dark at the needle. "Okay, c'mon." Still bent over the redstone instrument, Lydia turned and headed back towards the base.

Then she let out a yelp as an arrow pinged off her iron armor.

Whirling around, Morro spotted a pair of skeletons making their way through the trees towards them, and yanked Lydia behind the trunk of the one he stood behind. Pressing his back against the wood, he gave her a stern look before slipping out from behind the tree, sword in hand, to draw the skeletons away. One fired an arrow at him, but he effortlessly redirected it with a gust of wind, spinning around and lopping the mob's head off its shoulders as it came too close.

He made short work of the other one, then hurried back to his girlfriend, who was, amazingly, still where he had left her. "Okay, we're going back to base, now."

"We were already going back to base, you don't need to throw a fit." She protested, but relented as he grabbed her hand and began to pull her along through the woods.

Another skeleton made a sound nearby, and Morro glanced around, ready to deflect any oncoming attacks. Instead, a giant spider crawled out of the trees towards them, causing Lydia to shriek and break away from him as he raised his sword to kill it. It only took one well-aimed strike to take it out, causing it to explode into green and yellow sparkles and a few items, but the moment he reached down to collect them he heard a gasp from behind him and spun around.

Lydia turned towards him, an arrow sticking out of her right arm, and bit her lip. "That's not preferable."

"This is why I really don't like this game!" Morro batted a second arrow out of the air with his sword, but had to spin around when a zombie groaned from the trees ten feet away.

"Hey, chill, it's just one arrow." Lydia glowered at the projectile sticking out of her shoulder. "It'll probably despawn in a little while and I'll be fine."

"Other than the hole in your arm, you mean?" He redirected another arrow into the zombie, who promptly turned and began to attack the skeleton. Huh.

He could see more red eyes glowing from the trees, more spiders, and another arrow flew past his head. "Why are there so many of them?"

"Don't ask me!" Lydia grabbed a stack of dirt, digging up the block beneath her and building a wall around her. "C'mere, we can just wait it out."

"Until morning?" Morro obeyed, hopping over the short wall and landing next to her as she placed a block over them to close it up.

"If we have to." A pause. "I totally forgot I'm claustrophobic." Morro just sighed, digging the Realm Crystal out of his bag and holding it up to illuminate the tiny chamber. Lydia scooted back against the wall, but froze with a yelp as the arrow in her shoulder hit the dirt surrounding them. "Ow."

"We could just… teleport back to the base." Morro suggested, tossing the crystal from one hand to the other. "Except… I'm not sure if there's enough room in here for a portal."

"Ah. Yeah, good idea." Lydia bobbed her head, fingers reaching up to brush the shaft sticking out of her shoulder. "We could dig out more space. We'd have to dig down, but not too far, it should be fine." She reached out towards the block below them, but Morro grabbed her wrist, shaking his head.

"Don't use that arm unless you have to."

"Okay." She relented, surprisingly quickly. She must be in a lot of pain.

"I'll get it." Reaching down, Morro dug up the block directly beneath them, lowering them down on a cushion of wind as it disappeared. He started to dig up the block to his left, but froze at the sound of a skeleton shattering above them. He looked up to meet his girlfriend's eyes, only to find her matching his look of bewilderment.. Maybe the zombie he had redirected had killed the one skeleton…?

An Enderman's dying scream reached them, followed by the screech of a spider. Something was definitely going on up there. Lydia started to stand, reaching up towards the top block, but Morro gave her a look and she sat back down with a thump. He fingerspelled "not yet" at her, and she puffed out her cheeks at him but relented.

The sounds of mobs dying went on for a minute longer before abruptly coming to a halt, and Lydia glanced up at the block that kept them in as silence blanketed the woods once more. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off as the block above them shrunk and dropped onto the pair, revealing a pair of glowing eyes.

"Herobrine!" Lydia exclaimed, and immediately Morro was on his feet, lifting his sword to defend them as the figure stepped back. "Morro, wait. Chill. He killed the mobs."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, how else would they all die?" Lydia struggled to her feet, and Morro grabbed her good arm to steady her. "Herobrine?" Dirt blocks disappeared in front of them, a staircase for them to exit the hole, and Lydia started up without hesitation.

"Lydia." Morro groaned, but followed her up, still brandishing his sword warily.

Lydia stepped out of the pit and stopped, watching the figure that stood a few feet away. It was impossible to make out any of his features in the darkness, his glowing eyes the only thing visible among the trees. As soon as Morro was on level ground, the figure turned away, beckoning them with him as he headed back in the direction of their base.

Morro stayed close behind his girlfriend, but no more mobs seemed to be spawning, so probably Lydia was right about Herobrine scaring them off or something. But they spawned earlier, so he must not have been around.

It was a little more than a five-minute walk back to their base, Herobrine stopping and waiting for them when Lydia fell too far behind. Blood was starting to stain her sleeve, and she wore a tight grimace on her face. Morro hovered anxiously just behind her, trying not to disturb her while staying close enough to catch her if she fell or ward off any attacks from their guide should he turn on them. But, at least so far, he didn't seem to have any ill intentions.

They eventually made it to the base, and Herobrine led them inside, going to a chest and pulling out a stack of steak before placing a block of wool and beckoning Lydia towards it. She only hesitated a second before approaching, and Morro followed her, eyes locked on the white-eyed being. For the most part, he was ignored, the other man offering his girlfriend the food as she sat down on the block of wool. She accepted it, nodding her thanks, and Herobrine nodded back before reaching up and ripping the arrow out of her shoulder.

Lydia's mouth opened to scream, but all that came out was a choked gasp as Morro swept in, brandishing his sword at the stunned entity and driving him back against the wall. "What the ****?!" He snapped, slashing his sword through the air to keep him away as Lydia clamped a hand over the wound on her arm. Quickly, Herobrine placed a sign down on the ground next to him, touching it, and Morro watched words faded into view.

" I am sorry. It had

to be done before

the wound began to

heal. "

"W-well, a little warning next time would be really nice." Lydia stammered out through clenched teeth. "Cause that- cause this really hurts. Ow." Herobrine tentatively stepped closer again, but Morro just jabbed at him with the sword and he backed off. "Morro," Lydia managed. "Back off. I think he is t-trying to help."

"Do we want to bet your life on that?"

"Y-yeah." Morro fixed her with a glare, but she just matched it. "Well, what did you expect me to say?"

"Something intelligent?"

"Ouch." Herobrine summoned a long strip of cloth in his hands, glancing between them before making his way towards Lydia again and hovering his hand over her wounded forearm. When neither of them moved, he gently pried her good hand off and began to wrap the cloth around the wound. Lydia's face tensed, and she looked away, examining the blood on her other hand instead.

"Can you…" She spoke as Morro came up on her other side, the sword in his hand still readied. "...can you not talk?" Without looking up, Herobrine nodded. "Oh." She paused. "You should meet a friend of mine. I feel like you'd get along."

"Let's deal with you possibly bleeding out before you start trying to set up friendships, please." Morro nudged her with the hilt of his sword, and she gave him a blank stare. At that moment, Herobrine finished wrapping her arm and tied the bandage in a tight knot, stepping away.

"Th-thank you." Lydia managed, reaching back to tenderly prod at the bandage. "Thanks for h-helping us out." Herobrine nodded, a bottle of water appearing in his hand as he offered it to her. She pulled the cork out and drained it in a shot as the man placed another sign, more text beginning to appear.

" You need to get

some rest. Food

alone will not

heal you. "

"Ok-kay." Lydia's hands were visibly shaking as she corked the bottle again, and Morro set his sword down, stepping closer and gathering her up in his arms. Casting one last glance at the white-eyed entity, he straightened up and began to head towards the stairs.

* * *

**yayyy hes baybe**

**...anyway, I know I haven't been posting a lot of this content... or any at all, really, and i DEF havent started on the 4th book of the returns series... so if you're impatient like me and can't wait for Content, check out my tumblr blog ask-fff-fics! as the name suggests, you can send in questions to literally any characters ive ever written about, including these, the returns series characters, the various ninjago ones I've written... any of them!**

**read: please do. I created the blog last night and I have gotten zero (0) questions and dont know how to handle that**

**~FFF**


	11. Turnabout Realms - Intermission Part 1

**oh yeah im gonna post this too**

* * *

"Well, um, first of all, I haven't been committing murder either." Lydia crossed her arms. "I see where you're coming from and stuff, cause you're prosecuting me, but do you actually seriously think I did it? Do I look smart enough to pull that off?"

"That was not my question." Edgeworth snapped. "Who are you and where do you come from? Why do you share a face and fingerprints with this girl from across the country?"

"Umm." She couldn't really think of a way to explain this without telling the truth. "So, that's actually a bit of a long story."

"I have plenty of time." Edgeworth leaned against the doors, and Lydia noted vaguely that he was cutting off her only escape. There's no way she could overpower him, he was taller and undoubtedly stronger than her, so she was relying on him being a good person and not attacking her or something. It had been a while since she last consumed Edgeworth Content, but she didn't think he'd do anything like that.

"Weeeellllllll, uhhhhh…" She dragged out. "I'm from another dimension." Edgeworth blinked.

"Explain."

"So, are you familiar with multiverses? I'm from a parallel dimension. Which is one main reason I can't have killed Ms. Hillard, because I only popped into this dimension about 5 minutes before the murder took place." She paused, wondering what else was important enough to reveal.

"Uhhh, Morro isn't really my husband. I came up with that because I gave a fake last name. Because screw it. Karen's not his sister, she was a giant eldritch monster from a different dimension who I turned into a normal person. And the reason Morro's fingerprints weren't on the gun is because he has magic powers and didn't actually touch it." She clasped her hands behind her back. "Aaaand that's about it."

"Are you- this is preposterous." Edgeworth sounded less than convinced. "You're a traveller from another dimension? While I can't say I've ever heard an alibi like that before, that's because it is absolutely nonsensical."

"Hey, you asked for the truth!" Lydia threw her hands up in the air. "I'm an exact clone of an inhabitant of this world with no explanation of how I wound up here! I don't have plane tickets, or records of checking into a hotel, because I just appeared in the square right before the murder took place.

"There are no records of my wedding either, because I never got married. I can't have been cheating on my husband with Brian because I am not married and also didn't know he existed until he waltzed into court." She gave him a funny look. "And… you know he was lying, don't you? You prepared him as a witness. And he'd never met me before walking in. What... really happened with that, by the way?"

"I have no reason to answer to you." Edgeworth sputtered, getting progressively more upset. "This is ludicrous."

"Hmm…" Lydia tapped her fingers on her arm. "So if I told you some creepily accurate facts about your childhood, would you believe me then?" Edgeworth's gaze snapped onto her.

"What?"

"Ah yeah, being a dimension-hopper also means I… know some things about you. For reasons. Oh man, I wish I'd done a bit more research, it's been a while and I don't remember a lot. Mmm, lemme think." She tapped her chin. "You used to be good friends with Phoenix and his friend Larry, when you were kids, in like, 1st or 2nd grade I guess. Phoenix got accused of stealing your lunch money, you stood up for him, Larry ended up finding it and keeping it and you never even realized. I think you got matching keychains, too.

"You once found a lost puppy in a mall. And, on that note, your little sister was really sweet when she was a kid. Too bad she grew up… violent." She glanced up to see Edgeworth gaping slightly. "And your dad was killed when you were like, 10 or 12. You were adopted by Manfred-" She paused to snicker. "Manfred Von Karma, which is where you got the little sister, Franchiska. I still don't know how to pronounce her name."

"Franziska." Edgeworth corrected softly.

"Franziska." Lydia repeated. "So uh, do you believe me now?"

"I- I don't know what to think." Edgeworth's shoulders slumped a bit, and Lydia was surprised how much it changed the vibe he gave off. "I don't- I've never thought anything like this was possible."

"Yeah, understandable." She patted his arm lightly. "But, uh, anyway, I didn't commit the murder."

"...if anything, the revelation that you are a powerful being that can move from dimension to dimension at will only gives you greater ability to commit a crime." He fixed her with a suspicious look, and she frowned.

"Well, I can't exactly hop whenever I wish, nor am I very powerful. Just lucky, I guess. Morro has the item I use to cross from one dimension to the next, and I haven't exactly had access to it while in jail. Granted, he's pretty strong, and he could probably break me out, but I didn't really wanna reveal what was going on with us if I could help it. I try not to." Lydia paused to collect her thoughts. "...but yeah, anyway, I guess what I'm saying is I wasn't here to commit the crime, and I have no motive." Edgeworth didn't respond for a moment, brow furrowed.

"You still can't prove you weren't there."

"Edgeworth. Miles. My boy." Lydia reached up and grabbed his face with both hands, ignoring his horrified expression. "Do you believe that I committed the murder? Look at the facts, look at what you've learned. Do you honestly believe that I killed Amanda Hillard?"

"I- that matters not!" He sputtered, pushing her away. "I am a prosecutor! It is my duty to have you pronounced guilty!"

"And if I didn't do it? What are you doing, morals-wise? Would you feel good about locking away some dumb kid and letting a murderer run free?" She jabbed a finger at him. "Regardless of what Von Karma says, the duty of a prosecutor is not to win. It's to find the truth. You and Phoenix should be working together, not squabbling, even if you are on opposite sides. Phoenix is defending me because he believes that what he's doing is right - can you say the same?" Edgeworth was stunned only for a moment before recovering.

"You don't know anything about this. I have been trained by the greatest prosecutor ever to walk this Earth, why should I abandon his teachings based solely on the words of a- a mentally unstable young woman?"

"Well, I didn't kill your dad." Lydia responded simply. "Von Karma did." Edgeworth froze. "So, you were in an elevator with your dad and some dude, a bailiff or something, I forget. It got stuck, and you had to wait. You started running out of air. The other dude started to attack your dad, and you tried to defend him with a gun you got somewhere, but you passed out. You-"

"Stop." Edgeworth ground out from behind gritted teeth. "Be silent."

"No, this is important, I'm gonna keep talking. You fired the gun, and you thought you hit your dad. You didn't. You hit-" Edgeworth's hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist, but she kept going. Too late to stop now. "-Von Karma, who was in the hallway just outside. The bullet is still in his arm, because he was trying to disguise the fact that he was hurt by simply hiding the wound instead of getting it removed.

"The elevator doors opened, and Von Karma saw the three of you, passed out on the floor. In a spur-of-the-moment decision, he shot your dad and blamed the other dude for it." Lydia paused to gauge his reaction. Edgeworth's eyes were narrowed, his lips parted in a sneer. Hopefully he didn't just. like. get really mad and punch her in the face.

"And then he went and adopted you." Lydia quickly yanked her wrist out of his grip, and he didn't make any move to reclaim it. "I'm not entirely sure why, I forget. Maybe he felt bad for you, maybe it was one last power move over your dad- turn you into a prosecutor rather than the defense attorney you wanted to be." He still didn't respond, so she spoke again, softening her voice.

"I'm sorry. What he did was awful, and I know I'm not really helping by making you relive it while also accusing your mentor of your father's death. But I think you deserve to know."

"You're a liar." Edgeworth growled. "You know nothing of me."

"Actually, uh, if you've been listening, I know a lot about you. I know you like - or at least used to like - this kids show called… Steel Samurai? That might be the wrong one. But you got these keychains of some of the characters, you, Larry, and Phoenix each had one if I remember correctly. You still have yours."

"I don't know how you're doing this, but I will not allow you to slander the name of Von Karma." Edgeworth grabbed her wrist again, and she tried to squirm free, but his grip was firm.

"Let go."

"If you are not convicted in this case, then I will find another way to silence you." His eyes were cold as steel. "But, rest assured, I will do so."

"You can't do anything to me." She snapped. "My boyfriend is a trained killer. You mess with me, I'll stop telling him not to murder you."

"Do you really expect me to believe this lunacy? Every word that comes out of your mouth is more unreasonable than the last."

"What if I could prove it to you?" She shot back. "Let me find Morro. I'll prove to you that what I'm saying is true."

"And give you a chance to escape? I don't think so."

"Miles. You-"

"You will address me with respect."

"Mister Miles Edgeworth, you asked me for the truth. I told you the truth. What did you think I was gonna say, anyway, when you asked me why I was a clone of some random chick across the country? I have her fingerprints, short of me being a literal clone there's no way I can exist without some magic involved."

"You-!"

"-are very tired and very frustrated. Let go of my wrist, you're hurting me." He released her. At least, even when he was mad, he was still a gentleman. "Look, I know you're pissed, which is understandable. Completely understandable. But I promise, cross my heart and hope to die, I won't make a break for it. I just want to prove to you that I'm telling the truth."

"You're a liar." He hissed again, but his voice didn't hold the same conviction that it had before. "Why should I trust a promise from you?"

"Good question." She gave him a little shrug. "I can let you hold onto my wrist if you want. You're a lot stronger than me. And I mean, no one's letting me wander around alone anyway. Or, you could lock me in here, go find my boyfriend, and come back. He proooobably won't attack you."

"I- you may come with me." He reached out for her wrist again, but she grabbed his hand, ignoring his offended look. "But I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Donworry about it." He stepped away from the door, turning the knob and pulling it open with his free hand before leading her out into the hall. The pair headed back towards the lobby in silence, punctuated only by the prosecutor's shoes tapping against the floor.

The lobby was almost empty when they arrived, the only inhabitants being a couple of bailiffs milling around, Mr. Devil Stango, and Karen, the latter immediately spotting her and hurrying over,

"Where on earth have you two been?" She signed irritably. "Morro threw a fit."

"Sorry. Mr. Edgeworth and I were having a discussion. Can you find Morro and have him come back here?" Karen gave her a cross look, but walked off. "We can just wait here for a second."

"Very well." Edgeworth adjusted his grip on her hand, putting the other in his pocket as he glanced around for any sign of Morro. The lobby was quiet as Karen disappeared into the Courtroom, then, about 30 seconds later, returned with the wind master in tow.

"So-" He gave their clasped hands a long look. "What exactly is going on?"

"I need to prove to Edgeworth that we're dimension-travellers and not just lunatics. Can I borrow the Realm Crystal?" Wordlessly, Morro popped open the camera case and handed it over, and Lydia noticed a look of startled realization on Edgeworth's face.

"A'ight, let's run back to your office. I kinda wanna keep this on the low-down, being revealed as a dimension traveller in the public eye is a can of worms I'd really rather not deal with at the moment." Edgeworth gave her a single nod, tightening his grip on her hand as he turned back towards the hallway.

"They're coming along?" He cast a glance back at Morro and Karen.

"Yeah, of course. I don't want to lose track of them in another dimension."

"Hm." He hesitated. "You… are quite serious about this."

"Yup." They arrived at the office, and Lydia pulled him inside, directing him into a chair and pulling her hand away. "I'm gonna make a portal. Are you ready?" The prosecutor gave her a wary look, but nodded. "A'ight let's go." Lifting the Crystal, Lydia held it towards the wall and summoned a portal back to her house. Edgeworth's eyes widened, but otherwise he held his composure pretty well. "It's a bit of a weird feeling, but it'll be fine. C'mon." She held out her free hand to him, and, stiffly, he took it, getting to his feet. Nodding to Morro and Karen, Lydia stepped forward and lead Edgeworth through the portal.

TurnaboutRealms

"Mom, we have a visitor!" Lydia yelled, directing a stunned Edgeworth towards the couch. "Welcome to a different dimension. Feel free to look around a little bit." Grabbing her boyfriend, Lydia pulled him a few feet away, into the hall, as she heard chattering voices coming from nearby. "Keep an eye on him. I have to do something."

"Something like what?" Morro raised an eyebrow. "This was your idea, why are you dumping him on me?"

"I fricked up a bit." A lot. "I gotta go talk to an expert, hopefully she can help me fix this."

"...okay. But if your mom gets mad, I'm blaming you."

"Fair enough." Lydia pressed a kiss to his cheek, then turned and ran upstairs. Skidding into her bedroom, she dropped onto the floor next to her backpack, rummaged inside until she located her cell phone, and pulled it out. Scrolling through her contacts, she hit 'call' and lifted the phone to her ear.

"Hey Candy! Uh, I need your help with something."

* * *

**feat. the lovely candaru who I love with my whole entire heart**

**please tell me to do my homework I have a paper and a poster due at 3 PM this afternoon I have 5 hours help**

**~FFF**

**P.S. and send my blog asks please and thank**


	12. Miraculous! Part 1

**What's this? Lydia posting something other than minecraft? _Shocking_**

**no review replies bc its late at night and time for me to go to bed lol. but yeah have some idiots**

* * *

Lydia placed a hand on her chin, spinning around thoughtfully as she observed their surroundings.

"I fricked up." She noted after a moment.

"How so?" Beside her, Morro tucked the Realm Crystal into his camera case. "Are we in the wrong place?"

"No, no, just…" She gestured to the Eiffel Tower, towering over the city. "Miraculous Ladybug takes place in France."

"Okay, and?"

"And everyone speaks _french_." Lydia spun on her heel again, gesturing to the text on billboards and shops that were visible at the end of the street. Each word was, unfortunately, gibberish to her. She was woefully lacking in her knowledge of french. "I guess we'll have to come back later, with… Google Translate, or something?"

"Je peux parler français." She nearly snapped her neck whirling to face her boyfriend, who had the slightest of smirks on his face. "I speak french."

"Wh- wait, how?"

"Someone taught me? I don't know, I'm a bit rusty, it's been a good 20 years since I last spoke it, but…"

"Okay, you're OP. Noted. So we can stay!" She threw her hands in the air. "Woo!"

"_It doesn't really matter to me either way._" Karen signed. "_I can't speak._"

"Well, the problem is understanding, really. But yeah, we have our own personal translator here." She gave Morro a comfortable pat on the shoulder. "Well, let's go!"

"And where exactly are we going?" Morro eyed a passerby who was giving them a strange look. To their fortune, they had appeared on a street that was fairly empty. Fortunately, the people of this world (or at least this area) were probably pretty used to strange and weird happenings.

"The place where most of the action happens." Skimming the street, Lydia stepped onto the sidewalk and began to march in the direction of downtown. "High School."

* * *

"I don't think we can just walk into a high school without any identification."

"Nah, it's fine." Lydia brushed him off, hands on her hips as she gazed at the familiar building. "I did it in Movie Ninjago, remember?"

"Just because nobody there cared doesn't mean nobody here will." Morro protested. "I'd rather not have another incident like in the lawyer world."

"Oh, don't worry about that. The people here are pretty used to people with magic powers. Oh!" She nodded in the direction of a pair of girls as they exited the building, one sporting red hair and glasses while the other one rocked blue pigtails. "I know those two!"

"I guess school just got out." Morro noted as teenagers began to stream from the building. "Do you wanna… say hi?"

"I can't." Was her automatic response. "French."

"I could translate."

"Oh, no, that's too awkward." The brunette gave her head a firm shake. "I'll just watch for now. Creepily. From a distance."

"Hello there! I don't think we've met before." And she jumped, spinning around at the sound of a soft voice with a french accent. She was met by a young man with a head of wavy, blond hair, sparkling green eyes, and a winning smile.

She swallowed. "Oh. Hi!"

"I'm Adrien Agreste." He offered her a hand, and she took it, albit stiffly. "Are you tourists?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"Nice to meet you." Morro shouldered in beside her obviously stunned form. "I'm Morro, and this is Lydia. I think we saw you on the walk over here?"

"Oh! Yes!" Adrien blushed a bit, running one hand through his hair while shaking Morro's hand with the other. "My father is a clothes designer, I am his model."

"I see." Lydia cast a glance at Karen, who fanned herself exaggeratedly with her hand. Lydia signed for her to shut up.

"And you are?" Adrien turned emerald-green eyes to Karen, who froze before giving him a little wave.

"This is Karen. She can't talk." Morro answered for her. "You're the first one we've met who speaks english here." He raised an eyebrow, and Adrien beamed.

"My father takes great pains to ensure I receive a multicultural education." He announced proudly. "I'm sorry for any problems with my english, though. I'm still learning."

"Don't worry, it's really good." Lydia hastened to assure him. "How many languages do you speak?"

"I speak english, french, and mandarin chinese fluently. I also know a little bit of spanish and german." Lydia whistled with admiration.

"And here I am, only able to remember the spanish word for chair."

"Silla?"

"Yeah, that."

"Oh mon _dieu!_" A new voice cut in, one that seemed terribly familiar. "Tes cheveux sont _magnifiques!_" Wiping the grimace from her face, Lydia turned, coming face-to-face with a teenage girl dressed in yellow, black, and white, with her blond hair slicked back in a chic ponytail.

"Hello, Chloe!" Adrien greeted her cheerfully. "Voici Lydia, Morro et Karen. Ce sont des touristes des Amériques. Ils ne parlent pas français."

"Oh, hello!" Chloe gave them a little wave, paired with a smile that was maybe _just_ too wide. "I know a little bit of _Anglaise_\- english, that is! I was just trying to say, your hair-" She pointed to Karen's hair, pulled back in a braid that had sparkly ribbons interspersed through it. "is - _très beau!_"

"Very pretty." Morro translated. Karen blushed, signing a thank you. "Elle ne peut pas parler."

"Oh, je ne savais pas que tu parlais français." Adrien exclaimed. "Je suis désolé d'avoir supposé."

"Pas de soucis."

"_I have no idea what they're saying._" Karen signed.

"_Me either._"

"Oh! I apologize, I have to run." Adrien interrupted himself halfway through a string of french. "My chauffeur is here." A glance at the street revealed a limousine pulling up to the curb, and a tall, burly man stepped out to wave Adrien close. The teenager gave them an apologetic smile, then tugged his backpack upright before turning to jog in the direction of the car.

"Alors, depuis combien de temps êtes-vous en ville?" Chloe asked, drawing their attention back in her direction.

"Seulement depuis ce matin." Morro responded smoothly. Already bored with listening to them chatter back and forth, Lydia's eyes strayed to the rest of the courtyard, watching as most of the high-schoolers clumped up in groups to hang out.

Marinette and Alya had been joined with Rose and the girl with purple hair (whose name eluded her), the one jock boy was gently harassing Nino and the gamer boy, and Sabrina was hovering anxiously near the school doors. Apparently she wasn't supposed to be following Chloe right now? She was tempted to go over and say hello, but doubted they would have any means of communication.

Instead, she signed at Karen. "_Don't trust Chloe._"

"_Why not?_" Was the silent response.

"_She has a reputation of being a bit of a brat. Or, a lot of a brat._"

"_She seems nice. Shouldn't we wait to get to know her ourselves?_"

"_I guess, but still be careful._"

"_SABRINA!_" A piercing shout made them both jump, and they turned to see the redhead scamper across the courtyard in their direction.

"Oui, Chloé?"

"Mettez le numéro de ce garçon sur mon téléphone."

"Oui, Chloé."

"Oh, ne t'inquiète pas. Je n'ai pas de téléphone." Morro interrupted hastily. "Le seul d'entre nous avec un téléphone est ma petite amie." He gestured to Lydia, who blinked aimlessly.

"Oh? Je vois." Chloe cast a glance in her direction. "Bien je dois partir." And without so much as a goodbye (or maybe that was a goodbye? She couldn't tell), they were off.

"Huh." Morro remarked as the pair moved out of earshot.

"What was that last bit?" Lydia tilted her head at him.

"She wanted my number." Was his response. "I told her I didn't have a phone, but my girlfriend did."

"Oh. Oh?" Lydia frowned. "That's out of character for her to be… presumably flirting with you? Usually she has eyes only for Adrien."

"Maybe she's not exactly like her representation." Morro raised an eyebrow at her.

"Maybe she's got something up her sleeve." Lydia raised her eyebrow right back. "Anyway, um." She glanced wistfully over her shoulder, making sure Marinette and her group were still there. "I'd love to be able to talk to Marinette, but I don't know if that's possible given the language thing."

"You _could_ just go over and I could say 'hey, my girlfriend wanted to say hi, I'm Morro and this is Lydia and Karen. We're new in town'. Or something like that."

"I would but…" she gave him a sad shake of her head. "Crippling social anxiety."

"Crippling social anxiety my foot. I saw you punch a stranger in the middle of the street."

"I don't think that counts as social anxiety. I kind of accepted that he would be mad. Social anxiety is when I'm afraid people will be mad at me, or-"

A tremor rocked the ground.

The pair looked up, searching the air instinctively for any sign of the source. Out of the corner of her eye, Lydia could see the high schoolers following suit.

"Uh oh." The words had barely escaped her mouth when the pavement _cracked _below them, shafts of brightly-colored light spewing from the shattered pavement. Lydia and Karen stared, open-mouthed, as the yawning chasm widened and a humanoid figure floated out.

"Attention, Paris!" The figure boomed. "Que cela vous plaise ou non, moi, la Joconde, je vous rendrai _belle!_"

"Time to go." A firm hand grasped her forearm, and the next thing she knew she was being dragged backwards into the school building.

"Morrrrooooo…" She whined. "This is the fun part!"

"You _entirely_ neglected to mention any earthquakes, or- or _jesters_ that fly!"

"I don't think that's a jester." She squinted at the figure (la Joconde?), who was sending a beam of brightly-colored light to freeze a group of people in a colorful, graffiti-style painting on the wall they had been standing against. "I think it's a graffiti artist."

"You didn't mention _any_ magical- what is he _doing?_" Peering out from behind one of the pillars, Morro grimaced as the figure continued to freeze fleeing passerby into pieces of art. "Are they _dead?!_"

"I think they're just frozen." Lydia remarked, leaning out from the other side. As she watched, the akumatized villain floated down to a young woman, who was then trapped in a bubble of light and lifted up beside them. "They'll turn back to normal once the superheroes do their thing."

"You- are these 'superheroes' going to do something before we're _all-"_ And he cut off as a bright-red figure swung into view, hurling her weapon to hit the villain between the eyes.

"Yeah." Lydia answered after a moment of silence. Morro shot her a glare. "Morro, really, I promise, we're perfectly safe." She pulled herself back behind the pillar, trying to placate him. "No one ever gets hurt. It's okay."

"_Please_ promise me that." He was still glaring, but there was considerably less anger behind it.

"I promise." She linked her pinky with his. "Cross my heart and hope to die. Where's Karen?"

They both looked out from behind the pillar just in time to see the villain float toward Karen's cowering form, the girl clutching her braid in both hands as she stared up at them in alarm.

Before Morro could make a move, however, a silver flash struck the bad guy, sending them hurtling away while a black blur snatched up Karen and disappeared.

"Ooh!" Lydia exclaimed. Morro didn't even have time to ask her what was going on before the savior reappeared, depositing Karen on her feet behind them.

"Here you are." Chat Noir said, gracefully offering Karen a shoe that had fallen from her foot. "Please, stay out of trouble." Morro stared long and hard at Chat's masked face.

"Adrien Agreste?" Chat blanched. Lydia burst out laughing.

"Yeah, you pick it up fast." She chortled as Chat began to stammer out excuses. "Adrien, Chat, it's okay, we're not gonna tell anyone." She interrupted. "Come, uh, talk to us afterwards and I'll explain some things or something."

"I, uh, okay." He managed, green eyes flitting from one of them to the other. "How did you…?"

"Green eyes, blond hair. You speak english." Morro responded matter-of-factly, almost offended. "The only one I've met who does. Plus, your voice sounds familiar." Adrien dragged a hand down his face.

"I guess if you two, who barely know me, can figure it out, maybe I should be hiding my identity a little bit better."

"Maybe." Lydia agreed.

"Sorry to cut our meeting short, but I have to run!" Chat flashed them a salute, then sprung away, landing on the school's roof before scampering out of sight.

"What were you doing out there?" Morro asked, shooting a disapproving glance at Karen. She just shrugged. "So, superheroes?" He looked back at Lydia, who was observing as Ladybug swung circles around the obviously-frustrated villain.

"Yeah." She didn't look up. "That was Chat Noir, and over there is Ladybug."

"Interesting theme."

"There's lore behind it, trust me." As they watched, Chat Noir flew onto the scene, popping the bubbles in which the villain had captured several hapless townsfolk and escorting them safely to the ground. Unfortunately, the villain promptly bubbled him instead. Dodging flashes of color, Ladybug kited around her opponent, searching for the akumatized item.

"I'm gonna get closer." Lydia announced.

"No."

"It's gonna be fine, I'll stay hidden. He's busy with Ladybug. I really wanna see his design though."

"Again, no." Morro took her firmly by the upper arm, and she tugged away halfheartedly.

"Even if he should hit me, I'll be able to come out once she beats him."

"And if she doesn't?"

"That's not really an option. She always does."

"That doesn't rule it out as a possibility this time."

"Morro, I promise, it's gonna be perfectly okay." She squeezed his hand. "Can I please get closer?" He fixed her with a pointed glare, meeting her eyes for a few, long moments.

"You're not giving up, are you?"

"I don't think so."

"Alright let's go." He snatched up her hand, and they sprinted off towards the battle, ducking behind a hedge to keep out of sight.

The villain's powers were definitely art-based, but mostly manifested in flashes of neon color. Morro translated his opening speech for her as they watched ("Whether you like it or not, I, the Mona Lisa, will make you beautiful!"), which suggested some sort of art-based disappointment? Someone didn't like his (or her) graffiti? His abilities were the aforementioned flashes of light, which hurled at Ladybug like needles and looked to be very sharp. He also did the turning people into art thing. And the bubble thing.

Eventually, Ladybug activated her lucky charm, which created a large camera. After a moment of frowning at it, she disappeared behind a building, leaving Chat alone with the villain. Mona Lisa, of course, took the opportunity to try and take his ring, but he activated his cataclysm and broke the bubble. Apparently he couldn't just… pop it from the inside.

Just as he hit the ground, Ladybug reappeared, camera in hand, luring the villain off down a side street. Of course, Lydia dragged Morro off after them, wanting to see how the fight would end.

She didn't get to. Just as they came into view of the battle, a shockwave shot out from the trio and launched them back, Lydia's grip on her boyfriend breaking as she slammed into the cobblestones. Wincing, she shifted, trying to figure out if she had any broken bones, before deciding she was okay and sitting up. A few feet away, Morro did the same, pressing a hand to the back of his head.

Light blue shards littered the ground around him.

It took them a moment, but they came to the same conclusion at once, Morro scrambling for the case in which the Realm Crystal was stored. He unzipped it, reached inside, and pulled out a handful of what appeared to be broken glass.

The Realm Crystal was broken.

Their eyes met, and Lydia noted the panic on his face that mirrored hers. That was their _only way home_, unless there was some other magic they could harness, and even if they did they would never be able to realm-hop again, never be able to visit-

"_MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"_

And then it was fixed again, laying whole in his hands in a flash of pink light.

Tension draining from her body, Lydia sunk down onto the pavement, letting her body go limp as she sprawled on the ground.

"Okay, maybe you did have a point about the danger thing."


	13. Miraculous! Part 2

**yeah so im binging season 3 right now so I may as well finish this lol**

* * *

Adrien blinked, confusion written all over his face.

"You're… from another world?"

"Yup." Lydia nodded passively. "We do this a lot. Travel around and visit different places. We knew- well, I knew a lot about you and your world before coming. Hence me knowing your secret identity. Morro didn't know though, so, yeah. Might be a thing to work on."

"Oh. That's amazing, though!" Adrian's face broke into a grin. "I- what are the other worlds like? How many are there?"

"Oh man, I don't even know. _Hundreds_, at least." She shrugged. "I've only been to a few so far."

"Could you- would it be possible to take me to one, someday?" His green eyes sparkled with excitement. "Any of them, it would just- it would be extraordinary!"

"I don't see any reason why not." She couldn't help grinning back. His smile was that infectious. "Not now, but one day, I promise."

"Thank you!" He beamed at her. "I need to get back to my father, before he notices me missing. I'll see you later!"

"Okay. Bye!" And he was gone. Letting her shoulders sag, Lydia blew out a breath, leaning back against the brick wall of the alley they had taken refuge in.

"That was a whirlwind of action."

"No kidding." Morro muttered, fingering the camera case that hung around his neck.

To her disappointment, Lydia hadn't managed to see the end of the battle, or even who the poor akumatized soul was. After the scare of nearly losing the Realm Crystal, though, she was content with just getting out of there safely. She praised God for the fact that Ladybug's magic yo-yo powers had worked on it.

"_Can we go home?_" Karen signed. "_I need a nap after that._"

"Yeah, sure, of course." The brunette reached automatically for the crystal, stored safely in Morro's camera case, but hesitated when she realized just how many people were around. "C'mon, we've gotta go find someplace quiet."

"Agreed." Nodding for them to follow, Morro set off in an easy stroll down the alleyway, the two girls trailing behind him.

Due to the chaos that was the akuma attack, there were even more people than usual on the street. Some of them - Lydia spied Alya interviewing some witnesses - were looking for info on what had just happened, while others were checking on loved ones to make sure they were safe. It made her pause for a moment, made her wonder. This wasn't just a cartoon anymore. Could people be killed in the akuma attacks?

She shook the thought away. It wasn't worth dwelling on, no matter what the case may be.

"It was fun, though, wasn't it?" She chirped instead. "It was… crazy, but a good crazy. It was a spectacle."

"_Yes._" Karen signed in response. "_I like Adrien._"

"Who doesn't?" Lydia swung her arms happily at her sides. "I'm glad the time difference isn't too weird. I'd like to come back here again." There was no response, but the silence unnerved her, so she continued to talk. "I'm disappointed I didn't get to meet Marinette. Ladybug. They're the same person. Maybe by next time I'll have worked up the courage to actually try and talk."

"Okay, you know what?" Morro cut in. "No. Lydia, we need to talk." He spun around, stopping short, and Lydia skidded to a halt.

"What?"

"You. _This._" Frustrated, her boyfriend snatched up the Realm Crystal, holding it up. "You- you getting yourself into danger like this." Lydia relaxed a bit.

"Morro, listen, I know-"

"No, _you_ listen." He snapped, cutting her off. "You told me we were going to a fun cartoon. That there would be magic and stuff happening. We _both_ got hurt, Karen nearly got turned into a ####### painting, and we almost lost our _only way home. _And you can't _wait_ to go back?

"You need to _warn me_ of the danger that we could be facing. I know you think I'm powerful, and that I can protect you, but I _can't_ if I don't even know what I'm up against. And you're not the only one at stake here." He gestured to poor Karen, who stood frozen beside her. "If the Realm Crystal had shattered, we would all be stuck here. _Forever. _What about your family? What about-"

"I already freaked out about it, and I'm trying not to think about it, okay?!" Lydia snapped back, choking the words out past the lump that rose in her throat. "I'm sorry. You're right. But don't guilt trip me, I'm freaked out enough as it is!"

"Maybe that will make you stop and think next time!" Morro appeared to notice that he was leaning over her, and rocked back on his heels. "We'll talk about this when we get home." He stated, obviously straining to keep his voice even. "Let's just go." Lydia gritted her teeth as he turned around, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill. She hated being yelled at, but she hated being yelled at for something she completely deserved even more.

Blinking back the tears that muddled her vision, the brunette glanced up just in time to see a purple butterfly disappear behind Morro's shoulder.

"_Hey!_" She yelped, but it was too late. Her boyfriend stopped short, stiffening as a purplish tint covered his skin.

"_Hurricane, je suis le papillon."_

"_Je peux vous aider à protéger vos proches, et en retour…"_

Morro turned halfway, green already materializing on his face. Lydia swallowed back her tears.

"Karen, we need to go." Swiveling around, she grabbed the startled woman's hand, and ran.

* * *

"I kind of had it in my head that there was only allowed to be one Akuma per day." Lydia stated, her voice discouraged. "Guess I was wrong."

"_Apparently_." Karen signed, peering out from behind her as 'Hurricane' battled with the pair of superheroes. They had been lucky in that Ladybug and Chat Noir were nearby, and had distracted Morro from his quest to hunt them down. Karen wasn't sure what he would do if he caught them, but she would prefer not to find out.

"I like his outfit." Lydia remarked blandly. "It's cool." Her friend didn't respond. Over the course of the afternoon, Lydia appeared to have gone from excited to slightly hysterical, a state she knew Morro's condition wasn't helping in the least. So, she let her ramble.

The superheroes didn't appear to be having much trouble with him, despite Morro's greatly heightened ability over the wind. Though he tossed them about like pebbles in the tide, they simply regained their balance and shot back up. She could only hope they had some plan, there was no way they could keep this up forever.

Gently, she nudged Lydia's shoulder, drawing her attention from the fight. "_I'm surprised you're not out there, trying to get a closer look._" Lydia let out a stilted chuckle.

"I'm content with staying at a reasonable distance this time." Despite her light tone, her eyes filled with tears, and the brunette slid down the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Agh, I'm sorry. He was right." She managed. "I know e-everything's gonna be okay, it a-always is, but he's right." Karen patted her shoulder.

"_Worry about that once he's back to normal._"

"N-not sure if I can do that."

"_At least give it a try._"

"Hey!" A half shout, half whisper sounded from behind them, and Lydia spun around only for her face to fall into a frown. Karen turned, and the reason quickly became clear - the blond girl in yellow stood behind them, maybe ten feet away.

"Come here! You will be seen!" Chloe urged them in broken english. Lydia opened her mouth to respond, probably a retort, but Karen grabbed her arm and obeyed. The brunette scowled at her, trying to remind her of her warning, but it was ignored. Karen knew that she sometimes got the wrong impressions of those who were supposed to be evil.

Chloe beckoned them into a building, where several other people were hiding. "The akuma, is he Morro?" She asked, scanning the area for any sign of him.

"Yeah." Lydia responded glumly.

"Why? What happened?"

"It's none of your business." She spun and retreated, sitting down with her arms crossed against the wall. Chloe 'hmph'ed.

"You are… _silencieuse_, quiet? Can't speak?" The question was directed at her, and Karen nodded.

"_I speak ASL." _She tried signing, but the blonde just stared.

"I don't know…" she wiggled her fingers. Fair enough. "Did they fight?" She nodded in Lydia's direction, Karen shrugged. Sort of.

"I am going back outside." Chloe announced. "I'll return with speed." With that, she spun around, ponytail swishing behind her as she walked away. Karen managed to hide her smile at the attempt at english.

As she glanced around, the raven-haired maiden could see more than a few glances in her direction. That was understandable, her hair was eye-catching alone, and Chloe had been speaking to her in english. They appeared to be in a small restaurant, which had been closed, possibly due to the earlier attack. There was no staff, only a few clusters of people, one of them including a few small children. Oh dear.

Karen crossed the room towards Lydia, settling herself beside her sulking friend.

"_She can't be all that bad."_ She signed.

"You haven't seen her in action." Lydia grumbled. "Trust me, she's responsible for half the akuma in the show."

"_And is the source material always 100% dependable?_" Karen signed with a frown. "_If I recall correctly, sometimes villains that you despise end up being decent people._" She paused, then gestured to herself. Lydia scrunched up her nose at her.

"Ugh, please, I don't want to like Chloe."

"_Would you have once said the same about me?"_

"Ouch. Yes." Lydia braced her elbows on her knees, sighing into her hands. "I'm just… I dunno, kinda maxed out on how many people I can handle, y'know?"

"_There should not be a limit on how many people you can be kind to, regardless of how distasteful you find them._" The brunette peered out at her between her fingers.

"I don't like it when you have better logic than me."

"_You're welcome._"

"Okay, you win, I'll give her a chance."

"_And you will continue to treat her with kindness if she does not meet your new expectations?_"

"Mph. Yeah. I will."

The ceiling lifted off.

Screams filled the building, and Karen's head jerked up to see 'Hurricane' tossing the shingled roof aside. Luckily for the citizens fleeing the area, the entire thing was disintegrated by Chat Noir's magic attack. Unluckily for Lydia and Karen, Morro had already spotted them and was descending to their side.

"There you are." His voice had an otherworldly, if slightly familiar quality to it - the echoing reminded her of when he was a ghost. Lydia appeared to have the same thought, smirking directly before her boyfriend scooped her up and rocketed into the sky. Karen frowned, feeling slightly offended at being left behind, before a whirlwind snatched her up and carried her away.

"Morro," Lydia shouted, the sound of the wind nearly drowning her out as they were carried high into the air. "This isn't gonna work. It never works."

"That's poor logic." He fired back. "I'm a new enemy. Why shouldn't I be able to beat them?"

"Because that's not how it works!"

"Oh, like you've always been such a stickler for the rules." Lydia opened her mouth to speak, but Morro covered it with his hand. He was _so_ getting in trouble for that after he changed back.

"Hey, _Hurricane!"_ A voice shouted, catching Morro's attention. A young woman in a red suit speckled with black dots stood on a rooftop below, holding what appeared to be a yo-yo in one hand. "Pourquoi tu ne viens pas ici et me battre?"

"Hey, _Ladybug!_" He called back mockingly. "Pourquoi tu ne viens pas à moi? Et où est ton ami, le chat?" He continued. "Ou devrais-je dire, Adrien Agr-?"

Lydia smacked him in the face.

"Hey!" He snapped at her, removing his hand. "Cut it out! Can't you see I'm trying to protect you?"

"Absolutely _no_ revealing Chat's identity." She hissed. "That will mess _everything _up."

"_L'identité de Chat Noir?"_ Hawkmoth's voice came from Morro's mask. "_Par tous les moyens, allez-y._" Lydia went to smack him again, but Morro released her, carrying her a few feet away so she couldn't hinder him as he spoke.

"La véritable identité de Chat Noir," He proclaimed. "Est Adrian Agreste."

A pause. Lydia was nervously fiddling with her necklace, gears in her head obviously turning as she wondered how they would get out of this mess.

"_C'est impossible._" Hawkmoth stated coldly. "_Adri- le garçon Agreste ne peut pas être Chat Noir. Je les ai vus tous les deux en même temps, c'est clair qu'ils ne sont pas pareils."_

"Je l'ai vu moi-même!" Morro snapped. "Pourquoi mentirais-je?!"

"_Ensuite, obtenez Miraculous de Chat Noir et prouvez-le-moi._" Hawkmoth fired back. "_Ou je vais vous dépouiller de vos pouvoirs._"

"_What are they saying?_" Karen signed.

"_I have no idea._" Lydia signed back.

"_Le Papillon _is less than impressed with the revelation that Adrian Agreste is Chat Noir." Morro (Hurricane?) remarked. "But I suppose he'll see."

Lydia opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted as a rock smacked into her boyfriend's head, sending the both of them plummeting a few feet before he caught them again.

"Hey!" Lydia yelped, throwing her arms out instinctively as Hurricane let out a snarl.

"Faites attention!" And then Karen was snatched from the air, a figure dressed in a black bodysuit and cat ears landing lithely on the roof of a tall building. "Are you okay?" Chat's emerald eyes gazed down at her, and the raven-haired teen gave him a thumbs-up. "Let's get you down to safety." He shot a nervous glance at Hurricane, still hovering above with Lydia in his clutches, before he leaped down to earth and set her upright in an alley.

"I will return shortly." He promised, then clawed his way up the side of the building. Karen shot a glance around the alleyway, beating absently at her hair in an attempt to keep it down. It was empty, not too shockingly. Everyone with a lick of sense was hiding from the bad guy.

A roar from Morro had her gaze jerking back to the sky, just in time to see Chat bounce down with Lydia in his arms. Hurricane was hot on his heels, but was sidetracked by Ladybug as she delivered a flying kick to his abdomen, successfully drawing his attention away for a minute.

"This is terrible." Chat exclaimed before Lydia could even get a 'thank you' out. "Hurricane revealed my identity before the _entire _city. This is why no one can be allowed to know!"

"I know, I'm really sorry." Lydia winced as she was set on her feet. "Maybe we can make him out to be… straight-up wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't blaming you." Chat Noir shook his head. "I only mean… this is a very bad situation."

"I know." Lydia sat down on the concrete with a _thump._ "Agh, and Ladybug… I'm guessing she heard that." A deep blush spread over Adrian's face.

"Ah… most likely." The teen buried his face in his hands.

"I hope she isn't disappointed."

"Um, I don't think so." Lydia's voice came out in a bit of a squawk. "Um. Anyway, I'm sure there's some way to fix this."

"_If Paris were to see Adrian and Chat Noir at the same time, they would be convinced that it was not you, correct?_" Karen signed. Adrian raised an eyebrow, and Lydia relayed her message.

"I suppose?" He allowed. "But how would we find someone to play Adrian? I've done it once before, but I have no one around who fits my description." Lydia drifted towards the end of the alley, trying to catch a glimpse of her akumatized boyfriend.

"We could have someone play Chat instead?" She suggested. "He's a lot more recognizable, sort of? From a distance, a gorgeous blond boy could be anyone, but a guy in a black cat-themed bodysuit with a magic stick can pretty much only be one guy."

"I suppose, but who would be Chat? You two- and him-" He gestured to the sky. "Are the only ones who know my identity, and I can't- I don't- I can't trust you that well, I barely know you, but at least you don't live here!"

"Hey, hey." Lydia backtracked a bit, giving him a small pat on the arm. "You're gonna be fine. We'll find a way out of this, promise." He shot her a pained look, clearly not convinced.

Lydia grinned, thumbing at her own face. "I'll be Chat."

"What?" Adrian sputtered. "That's- I'm sorry, you're not the chosen for the Miraculous, and besides, your hair is dark!" Karen just rested her chin on her hand, watching with interest.

"It doesn't have to be for long." Lydia countered. "They just need to see 'oh hey that's Chat Noir' and 'oh hey that's fashion model and local heartthrob Adrian Agreste' at the same time. Probably go and do something dumb so that all the cameras and stuff are on you, then I can yeet past just long enough to prove him wrong." Chat rubbed his chin.

"I think… it might work?" He spoke haltingly, fingering the ring where it rested over his glove. "If… I can trust you, and everything goes right…?"

"So our options are just do nothing and you get outed as Adrian/Chat, or you do this and idk, we might fail but we also might get everyone off your trail." Lydia counted them off her fingers, then held them up like a victory sign. "Downsides? I don't see any."

"I… don't… okay." Chat squared his shoulders. "You have to be very careful. Don't let Ladybug see you up close, okay?"

"Okay." Lydia nodded enthusiastically. "I'll just show myself, and then you can back off and I'll pass the ring back. Okay?"

"Okay." Chat reached for his ring, then stopped. "Don't use cataclysm, okay?"

"I won't."

"Claws off." In a burst of green light, Adrian Agreste was himself again, accompanied by a little flying… back… cat-bug. The creature floated lazily away from its' master, giving the girls a critical eye.

"Qu'est-ce que c'est? Avez-vous des copines maintenant?"

"Non, mais ce sera votre utilisateur Miraculous pendant un certain temps." Adrian reached for the ring, hesitated, then slipped it off. He flexed his hand a couple times, unused to the lack of his prized piece of jewelry, before he handed it off to Lydia. She didn't waste a second in slipping it on, and adjusting it on her hand before she looked up with a grin of sheer joy on her face.

"Plagg, claws out!"


End file.
